Tabula Rasa
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: Wes and Travis catch a case involving the murder of a college student. Everything seems to going smoothly until Wes begins to believe that a suspect is innocent, when no one else does, including his own partner. Later, the case becomes even more difficult when something tragic happens, digging up painful memories for Wes, who's guilt may tear him apart, unless Travis can help him.
1. Chapter 1

Tabula Rasa

"_Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store, which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word; from experience. In that all our knowledge is founded, and from that it ultimately derives itself._" –John Locke

Chapter One

Almost four months had gone by since Wes and Travis had begun therapy sessions with Dr. Ryan. Travis was still much more at ease with their sessions than Wes was with them, as he felt much less comfortable with sharing anything about his personal life to a room full of strangers and even more so with his partner, but he knew Dr. Ryan was helping them to improve his and Travis' partnership and friendship, so inwardly, Wes finally began to stop trying to fight it, though outwardly he still showed his disdain for it.

The session they were currently sitting in was almost over and they had finished their daily exercise, or assignment, early and so for the last fifteen minutes, the couples decided to share with the others about the basic things they should all know about their partner by now and as usual, Wes and Travis were last.

When neither one of them volunteered to go first, Dr. Ryan spoke up saying, "I know that we have already answered these questions early on in our sessions, boys, but this is actually a good idea to rehash what we know about each other so that we can see how the improved we all are. Wes, why don't you go first. What is Travis' favorite color?"

Wes acted annoyed as he answered, "His favorite color is red. It's the same color he loves to see all of his conquests' wearing after stripping down to their undergarments. He thinks it's sexy."

"You would too if you would actually allow yourself to be with a woman again," Travis responded mockingly. "And for your information, I like it when they wear multiple colors; not just red."

"But is Wes right about red being your favorite color?" Dakota asked.

Travis nodded slowly and then replied, "Yes, he's right."

Wes smiled smugly and then continued, "Travis also likes any kind of food that's really greasy, especially Chinese food, his favorite movie is Scarface, all though you would think that it would be one of the Lethal Weapon movies, seeing as he loves to imitate Mel Gibson's character to a T, and his favorite pastime is women; period."

"Very good, Wes," Dr. Ryan said. "It appears that you've learned quite a bit about your partner since we've started.

"No, I already knew all of that before we started these sessions," Wes retorted. "But I have learned a few things that are a bit more important than what his favorite movie is."

Dr. Ryan looked at him and asked, "Would you care to share something about him that we don't already know?"

Wes looked over at his partner and then looked down as he slowly answered, "I learned how important family really is to him. I mean, he has several foster parents and siblings and he takes the time to visit as often as he can with each and every one of them, including the ones, who have ended up in prison because of the rotten choices they've made in life. I know that Mother's Day, is the craziest day of the year for him because he tries to see each of his moms and he gets each of them a gift. Travis is a good son and brother."

Emma smiled as he said, "Well done, Wes. Now, how about you, Travis. What is Wes' favorite color?"

Travis thought for a moment and then responded, "His favorite color is green."

"Wrong, my favorite color is blue," Wes replied. "I told you that a long time ago."

"Well, it was a long time ago," Travis snapped. "Your favorite food is some kind of disgusting salad, your favorite movie is Star Wars, and your favorite pastime is eating alone every night at that hotel you call home because you love being miserable."

Wes shook his head and then spoke up saying, "No, I don't have a favorite movie, and no, I just happen to spend my nights alone because I haven't yet met anyone worth pursuing, least of all the women you've tried to throw at me. It's like you don't know me at all."

Travis just smirked and then answered, "Well, like you, I know a few of the more important things about you, such as that you are a tad bit jealous of my families because you don't have any of your own, you are anal about, well about everything, that your intelligent, observant, and methodical, or as I like to say it, obsessive."

"I think that last bit is obvious," Clyde said sarcastically. "Sorry, man."

"Well, it appears that the two of you do know quite a bit more about each other than when you first started," Dr. Ryan responded before Wes had a chance to say anything in retort that would lead to the detectives getting into one of their typical spats. "Nicely done. I hope that you keep up the good work."

About a half hour later, Wes and Travis arrived back at the LAPD office and took a seat at the table inside the break room in order to eat the lunches they had picked up at the burger joint down the road. Wes only laughed to himself as Travis bit into his burger, causing a large amount of the burger's grease to drip down his chin. Travis wiped the grease away using the sleeve of his jacket and then glared at his partner briefly, just before finally turning around to face another direction in order to ignore him.

A few minutes later, Captain Sutton walked into the break room to find the two of them sitting with their backs to each other and he spoke up saying, "Please don't tell me that the two of you aren't speaking to each other again."

Wes turned to look at Travis and replied, "No, Captain. We're just fine. It was just something that was said in therapy."

Travis grumbled, "Yeah, Wes is making fun of my eating habits."

"The two of you really need to grow up and stop acting like children," Sutton said. "I've got a new case for you. A college student at UCLA has been found on the floor of his dorm room by his roommate about forty minutes ago. As it happened on a college campus, I need the two of you to be professional and tread softly. You know how all big, prestigious schools get when something like this happens and you know how the press gets with something like this too."

"Don't worry, Captain," Wes answered solemnly. "Travis and I will avoid speaking to the press and tip toe around the school's students, teachers, and the board members in order to help preserve their precious image."

Captain Sutton sensed the sarcasm in Wes' answer and then asked, "I take it that you have a problem with this order?"

Travis quickly responded, "No, Sir. Wes just doesn't like that the people we'll have to speak to will try to hide things from us and expect us to ignore the sensitive issues just to preserve the school's so called perfect image. We'll be perfect gentlemen."

"Good, then get going," their boss replied. "I better not receive any complaints about the two of you pulling any of your childish antics. Do I make myself clear?"

"As clear as crystal, Captain," Wes answered in frustration. "We won't give the press anything to report about us today. You have our word."


	2. Chapter 2

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Two

Once their captain had given his two best detectives orders to be discreet with the people they were going to have to speak with at the college, Travis noticed that Wes' mood had become more foul than usual, as he had been silent ever since they walked out from the office and started to drive toward the UCLA campus.

Travis finally broke the silence as he said, "So, Wes, I am getting the sense that you don't like talking to the authority figures on a college campus, or is it that you just don't like the ones at this campus? I thought you went to Berkeley."

Wes shook his head in frustration and answered, "No, Travis, I went to Stanford and no, it isn't that I hate talking to the authority figures. I hate that we are expected to tip toe around the students and faculty like nothing bad happened. I get that we can't just blurt out to the press, who our suspects are or what all of the facts are in the case. That's the same as any case and besides, I would never do that. I hate the press. What I mean is, the faculty members in charge always expect us to tread lightly in order to keep up the school's precious image. Whenever something like this happens, the cases usually get dropped because the people involved are paid off for their silence."

"And you know this how?" Travis asked as he was finally beginning to understand his partner's reluctance in taking this case.

"I'd rather not get into it," Wes replied solemnly.

Travis looked over at him again and responded seriously, "Something bad happened to you while you were at law school. Didn't it?"

Wes kept his face forward as he continued to drive and answered, "Nothing bad happened to me, but I knew a woman from a more private law school that something bad did happen to. I didn't know her that well, but she was best friends with a friend of mine. We all hung out together. One night, we all went to one of her school's parties and her boyfriend brought her into a room upstairs in the house where the party was at and he raped her, along with four other guys."

"She was gang raped," Travis said sadly.

"She was too afraid to go to the faculty to file charges against the guys that hurt her, as her boyfriend was the dean's son, but eventually my friend convinced her to go to the police," Wes continued. "I found out a few weeks later that the dean and probably a few other members of the school board blackmailed and then paid her and her family off to keep quiet. She moved away soon after that. I never heard from her or my friend again and as far as I know, the school is still open and a real success."

Travis shook his head in disgust and then replied, "Damn, I see what you mean. Did you ever try to look her up to see what became of her after you became a cop?"

Wes shook his head as he responded, "No, I guess I haven't really thought about her since it happened. There's nothing I can do for her now, but I suppose it would be good to know if she's doing all right now."

"Well, we're here now," Travis said as they pulled up to the front doors of the dorm where the student's body had been found. "Are you ready find out what happened here and then let the dean and board members know that we don't take crap from anyone that tries to impede our investigations?"

"You're damn right, I'm ready," Wes answered firmly. "Let's get this over with."

As Wes and Travis walked inside and headed up to the room, where a number of students were standing around, behind the crime scene tape, as two officers, three members of the school's security, as well as a couple of staff members were working to keep people away from the body.

The detectives pushed through the crowd and then walked into the room, to find that the body looked like it was still in its original position on the floor, covered up by a blanket out of respect. As Wes pulled the blanket away, he and Travis saw that the younger man was stripped down to his boxers and that whoever killed him had used a knife to stab him brutally over and over.

Travis was the first to speak up again as he whispered so that only Wes could hear him, "It looks like somebody hated this poor kid. What do you want to bet that he was killed by a scorned lover?"

Wes replied softly, "We can't make that assumption, Travis. However, we can say that whoever killed him would have gotten his blood all over his or herself. Look at the blood splatter. This was a brutal attack. Surely, someone would have noticed someone covered in blood trying to sneak around the campus."

"You're right," Travis agreed as he looked around at the large amount of blood that covered the walls, furniture, and floor. "There are always students, as well as some of the faculty members awake in the middle of the night. I know I certainly partied in college. Also, surely someone had to have heard the attack when it happened, even if our victim was unconscious before he was stabbed. I mean, this kind of brutally takes a lot of rage. The killer must have made some kind cry as he or she killed him."

"Yeah, well I doubt we'll get cooperation from any of these students, but let's have his roommate brought in here so we can talk with him to see what he knows and where he was that made it so that it wasn't until this morning that he found his friend's body," Wes responded. "We can search the room to see if there's something here that might help us. Then, we can have a chat with the dean and anyone else the guy invited to help deal with this mess."

As he headed toward the door, Travis spoke up saying, "Sounds good to me. Why don't you get started on the search. I'll get the kid. I'm assuming he's just outside the room like all of the other students that are hovering around."

A few minutes later, Travis walked back inside the room with their victim's roommate, as Wes was searching the closet. The student appeared shaken up, as he should be after finding his friend dead, but he had told Travis out in the hallway that he wanted to help them in any way he could.

Travis quickly spoke up as he entered, "Jeremy, this is my partner, Detective Mitchell. He's cool. Wes, our friend here is Jeremy Walker and his roommate was Ryan Conway."

"What can you tell us about him?" Wes asked after nodding at Jeremy in acknowledgement. "Do you have an idea as to why somebody would want to kill Ryan like this?"

"Ryan was a good guy and a good friend," Jeremy answered sadly as he tried to avoid looking down at his friend's body that was once again covered up by the blanket. "He wasn't nearly as social as I am, as he preferred to stay in, even on the weekends, but occasionally he would come out with me to get a few drinks. A few weeks ago, he met a girl at one of the bars downtown and he went home with her. He's been happier than I've ever seen him, that is, until two nights ago. Apparently, she dumped him, but that was all I could get out of him. He was pretty upset, but he kept to himself and stayed here in the dorm."

Travis asked, "Did you find out this lady's name by any chance, or anything about her that could help us to track her down?"

Jeremy shook his head and replied, "All I know was that her name was Jacqueline. I never met her and Ryan didn't talk about her much. She never came around here. He always went out to see her. It was like she was some big secret; kind of weird."

"All right, that's a start," Wes responded. "Where were you last night around two- thirty? How come you didn't find your roommate until late this morning?"

"I met a girl last night and I went back to her place to, you know, I slept with her," Jeremy answered. "I woke up late this morning and had to rush right to class. I came back here after it was done. That's when I found Ryan."

Wes nodded and then said, "We're going to need the name and address of the woman you went home with last night so that we can rule you out as a suspect. Was there anyone else that can verify your alibi? The more information we have, the better."

Jeremy looked away sheepishly and then turned back as he replied, "Yeah, you can talk with her boyfriend. He walked in on us with his own woman. Apparently the two are into some pretty funky things."

"Was this the same bar where Ryan met Jacqueline?" Travis asked in curiosity as the more deviant side of him suddenly peaked.

"Yeah, actually it is," Jeremy responded. "A few of my friends told me about it. It's full of strange people, but they're great if you're into the kinky kind of stuff. I didn't think I was until…"

Wes suddenly cut him off as he quickly said, "Thank you for your help, Jeremy. We'll be in touch."

Travis only smirked at his partner's discomfort as the conversation had turned weird. After Ryan's roommate finished writing down the information they had asked for, Wes and Travis walked out and headed off to go and speak with the dean, who was strangely not waiting around near the crime scene to speak with them. From their conversation with Jeremy, neither one of them got the sense that the kid was guilty of killing his friend, but it did bring up a strange list of new, possible suspects.


	3. Chapter 3

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Three

On their way to search for the dean, Wes and Travis ended up speaking to two of the other staff members of the college, one of whom was Ryan Conway's physics professor. The man explained to them what a shame it was that Ryan was dead, as the kid appeared to have been one of the professor's best students.

The detectives had also tried to speak with a few of the students, most of whom didn't want to speak with them. One of the girls said that Ryan was really sweet and that he didn't deserve to be killed as he was, but what sparked their interest the most was that at least two students claimed that he wasn't the perfect student that he appeared to be. However, Wes and Travis couldn't get them to explain anymore as two of the security officers interrupted them, scaring the kids away.

After being told that the dean was waiting for them, Wes and Travis began to follow after them, as Travis leaned over toward his partner and whispered, "These guys seem more like the men in black than they do campus security, but without the humor of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones."

Wes just rolled his eyes and then quietly replied, "Relax, this is just their way of trying to intimidate us and to show the students around here who's in charge. And for your information, Tommy Lee Jones wasn't funny. He was the more disciplined and responsible member of the team."

"You mean more anal and obsessive like you?" Travis asked sarcastically. "Tommy Lee Jones was funny because his character was trying hard not to be. You haven't got a funny bone in your entire body. You wouldn't know what humor was if it came up and shoved a pie in your face. That'd be funny."

"You know what, Travis…," Wes responded a bit louder than he meant to and then quickly lowered his voice again as the men in front of them looked back. "I can't believe I am having this conversation with you. How do you always get me into such pointless arguments while we're at work?"

Travis answered smugly, "It's a gift."

When they finally arrived at the dean's office, the guards walked them in and both detectives took a seat in the chairs that had been placed in front of the man's desk as the man sitting behind his desk spoke up saying, "Good afternoon, Officers. I am certainly sorry that we had to meet under these grim circumstances."

Wes nodded as he replied, "It is unfortunate. Dean Wilkins, I'm Detective Mitchell and this is my partner, Detective Marks. What can you tell us about Ryan Conway? Whatever you know would be a big help."

"I didn't really know the young man very well, but sadly, I was beginning to shortly before he died," the dean responded.

"What do you mean by that?" Travis asked curiously.

Wilkins answered, "Up until about two weeks ago, he was a straight A student, who always did excellent work and even taught a few of his teachers a thing or two. Ryan Conway was very bright."

As he paid close attention to the man, looking for any kind of deception coming from him, Wes asked, "What changed? Did he talk to you at all about something that was bothering him?"

"I am not sure what brought on his change of behavior, but I do know this," the dean continued. "Ryan started mouthing back to some of the professors, to me, and even to several of the students. His choices in the clothes he wore changed, and two days ago, he was caught giving out answers to the exams we've got coming up soon. One of his classmates turned him in. We were going to have a hearing with the board sometime next week to determine if he should be expelled or not."

"That isn't the only thing that changed about him!" a young woman cried out as she suddenly came charging into Dean Wilkins' office. "He became violent and hard, as if he had joined up with a gang or something."

"Whoa, take it easy," Travis quickly said as stopped the two officers, who grabbed a hold of her and tried to remove her from the room. "My partner and I would like to hear what she has to say. What's your name, Miss?"

She pulled her arm out from one of the officers' grip on her and then turned to Travis and Wes as she replied, "My name is Connie. I was dating Ryan, or at least I was until a few months ago. We had been together since middle school. Ryan was kind and sweet, but he was shy, especially in a big group of people. He hated going to any parties and he hated going to the clubs or bars, but once we started college, the pressure to succeed and his desire to stop being invisible to the people around him became too much for him to handle. Eventually, he found a friend, who did for him, kind of like what the Fonz did for Richie Cunningham in Happy Days. I like the older classics on TV. The only difference was that his friend wasn't always a good guy. He had a darker side to him and he dragged Ryan into it."

Wes looked over at Travis and then turned back to look at Connie as he responded, "Let me guess, this campus' Fonzie is Ryan's roommate, Jeremy Walker?"

"Yes," she answered. "Ryan and I eventually just drifted apart so much as he started to become more sociable with the wrong crowds that I broke up with him a few months ago. Then, four nights ago, I confronted him about his behavior and begged to know what was going on. He became angry and he grabbed my arm so hard, before shoving me down to the ground. Then, he just ran out of the room. It was the first time I had seen him become so angry. It was like he was on drugs or something."

"Did you report any of this?" Wes asked sadly as she rolled up the sleeve of her shirt and showed them the dark bruise around her wrist.

Connie nodded and then glared at the dean as she replied, "Yes, I told Dean Wilkins what happened. He told me he would have a talk with Ryan and then asked me not to say anything to anyone about it. Ryan's attitude only became worse until, well you know, until he was killed. Ryan was a good man, Detectives. He was young and he just wanted to be liked, but someone did this to him. Someone made him angry and then they killed him. Please, find out who did this. They need to pay before they hurt anyone else."

Wes escorted her to the door as he handed her his card and she walked away, while Travis kept his eyes on Wilkins and the other en in his room until his partner came back looking very angry as he spoke up saying, "I'm guessing that all of that just happened to slip your mind. Why would you try to hide the fact that one of your students, a kid, may be using drugs and was becoming violent? Were you just trying to cover it up in order to save face? Trying to protect your own image?"

"Take it easy, Wes," Travis stepped in order to keep him from losing his temper. "You'll have to forgive my partner, Dean Wilkins. He gets a little emotional sometimes, but nonetheless, he's right. I know now that the appearance of a school, especially one as big as UCLA, means everything to guys like you. It's how you draw so many students in and how you make all your money you spend on things like your expensive watch, your big house, and your nice fancy car."

"How did you know that I had a big house and fancy car?" the man asked in surprise.

Travis looked at Wes and grinned, then turned back to look at the dean as Wes responded, "We didn't, but you just confirmed that you did. I had a feeling that you were a man who liked nice things and didn't care about, whose feelings you hurt, or the things you swept under the rug to get them."

Dean Wilkins stood up from his chair as he asked angrily, "Are you threatening me, Detective Mitchell?"

As the security officers moved forward and grabbed Wes by his arms in order to pull him out of the office, Travis quickly shoved them both away from him and took over pulling his partner away as Wes answered firmly, "It wasn't a threat, but I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't have a job at the end of the week. If we have any more questions, we'll be back."

"Look, I know how angry you are, Wes," Travis said quietly as they finally left and headed to the area where they parked their car. "I hate that scumbag too, but I'm pretty sure he didn't have anything to do with Ryan's death. He's just an arrogant, smug, money grubbing bastard."

"I know," Wes replied and then sighed in frustration. "I'll report him to whoever I have to report him to, but I doubt he'll get fired. Men like that usually have a way out of trouble. We need to go and speak to Jeremy's kinky girlfriend and her boyfriend, then find this club Jeremy was talking about. If drugs are involved, maybe someone there is giving them out to young college students, who are only looking to loosen up or become popular."

"I can't believe you said the word 'kinky," Travis responded in hope of lightening up the mood and get Wes' mind off of the dean. "That's so not like you."

Wes chuckled and then pushed Travis over toward the passenger's side of his car as he answered, "Shut up and get in the car. We've got a lot to do still."

Travis smiled and said, "Sure thing, Agent K."


	4. Chapter 4

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Four

Wes and Travis drove to the address they had been given by Jeremy. The apartment complexes were in the slums of Beverly Hills. This was the area where a lot of the more gangster type or punk kids lived so that they could claim that they lived in Beverly Hills, but the apartments were small and trashed.

"I feel like I'm going to get mugged as soon as we go in there," Wes spoke up as he parked the car and stepped out.

"You just might," Travis agreed. "Perhaps if you didn't carry yourself so proper and always dress like you're loaded, then we might not have this problem."

Wes glared at his partner and then responded, "Let's just go. We're looking for Apartment 3B."

As they walked up the stairs to the third floor, Travis asked, "What were the names of the kinky couple we're here to see?"

"Anna Jessup was Jeremy's date and her boyfriend's name is Tony Richards," Wes answered. "Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll be able to give us what we're looking for. It'd be nice to get a little cooperation for once."

"And you think we're going to get it from a couple, who are into bizarre, twisted sex games and possibly drugs, who go to a club full of others just like them?" Travis asked sarcastically.

Wes thought for a moment as they finally made it to the right apartment and then replied, "Good point. You knock."

Travis nodded as he stepped forward and knocked loudly on the door. After knocking a second time, a young woman still dressed in a nightgown, who appeared to have been sleeping moments before, finally answered, then quickly shut the door in order to pull off the chain and reopened it to get a better look at the men standing outside the door. After Wes and Travis introduced themselves, the young woman stepped aside to let them in and waited for them to speak first.

Travis spoke up as he said, "Forgive us if we woke you up, Miss. Are you Anna Jessup?"

"Yes, that's me," she responded as she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. "What is this all about, Detectives? I haven't done anything wrong."

"Why would you assume we were here for you?" Wes asked skeptically as he observed the young woman's mannerisms as she appeared to be getting nervous. "We're only here to ask you a couple of questions."

She quickly answered, "I'm sorry, but as I'm sure you can imagine, we get a lot of cops coming around here for many different reasons. What would you like to know?"

Travis replied, "We understand you had a date last night with a college student from UCLA named Jeremy Walker. Is that right?"

"Yeah, I believe that was his name," Anna responded. "He was sexy and a great kisser. I liked him."

"You mean, even more than your boyfriend?" Wes asked smugly. "Is Tony really okay with you sleeping around with other men?"

She glared at him as she answered, "We both sleep with a number of men and women. Everyone, who goes to the club we hang out at every night do. We get that it's twisted for plain, boring people like you, Detective, but for us, it's our very own palace."

Travis couldn't help but smirk, as Wes just nodded in unbelief at her attitude, then Travis replied, "You'll have to ignore my partner, Anna. He is very plain and boring just as you said. Did you and Jeremy come back here last night and then stay until this morning until he rushed off to class?"

"That's right, he did," she responded. "He was great. He's come to the club a few times now, but I've always passed by him. However, something made me give him another chance last night and I'm glad."

"What about Tony?" Travis continued. "Jeremy said that your boyfriend walked in on you two this morning with his own friend. Do you know where he was last night?"

Just then, Tony walked into the room as he answered for himself, "I went back to my date's place not too far from here. Her dad owns the Harem. If you want to know I'm telling the truth, you can ask him. He was there all night with his own women."

Wes felt disgust as he looked at her and asked briskly, ""Women, as in more than one? This is just… just wrong. You didn't happen to see Jeremy's friend, Ryan Conway, there last night by any chance, did you?"

"No, Ryan wasn't there last night, but he was the night before, or the night before that, I'm not really sure," Tony replied and then leaned over to kiss Anna tenderly. "Anyway, he and this other woman that works at the Harem, Jacqueline, got into a big fight. A few weeks ago they hooked up and Ryan seemed to really like her, but when Jacqueline said that she wanted to experiment with other guys too, he lost it and he beat her a bit. It wasn't bad. He left before he got too rough."

"Ryan was new to this kind of life," Anna continued. "He didn't really fit in with us and he felt really uncomfortable, at least until he met Jacqueline. I guess that's why he went nuts like he did. He was a good kid, but was too good for me. I like the darker men."

Wes skeptically responded, "You keep referring to Ryan in the past tense. You already know that something happened to him, don't you?"

Both Tony and Anna looked at him nervously as she asked, "Wait, what are you saying? Do you think that we did something to him? Is he dead?"

"Yes, he's dead," Wes answered. "He was stabbed several times in his dorm room. It was pretty gruesome, but I have a feeling you already know that."

"No, I… all right, yes, I do know that he was killed," Anna replied fearfully. "I was sent a picture text showing his body from a number I didn't recognize. Tony got one this morning too, but I have a feeling that a ton of people got it, seeing as he was found in his college dorm room. A number of students could have sent the texts. You know how students can be."

Wes shook his head as Travis spoke up saying, "All right. Tony, we're going to need the number and address of your woman from last night, as well as Jacqueline's if you have it and the number from that picture text you were both sent. What was the name of this club?"

Tony responded, "It's called the Harem of the Forty Thieves. You know, as in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves?"

"Got it," Wes answered as he wrote it down, followed by the information they had asked for. "Oh, I've got one more question. Do you know about any kind of drugs that have been spread around the club, you know, in order to help loosen up those that aren't so comfortable with whatever it is that you do? "

"No way, Officer," Tony replied. "What goes on there may be strange to a lot of people, but it is a respectable night club. The owner would never dream of allowing drugs of any kind to be spread around."

Travis nodded and then said, "Thanks for your time. You've been pretty helpful. We'll see ourselves out now."

After they left and headed back down the stairs of the building, Wes spoke up saying, "I don't think either one of them were responsible for killing Ryan, but they were definitely hiding something. How on earth does a night club like this exist? It's disgusting and just wrong."

"You've said that already," Travis responded. "Wes, this is Los Angeles. I'm sure there are plenty of places just like this that your dull, unimaginative mind would be offended by."

"And you think a club like this is cool?" Wes asked as he was becoming agitated.

Travis shook his head as he answered, "Of course not. I never said I did. In fact, I agree with you, but it's not like I couldn't think up a place like it. Let's head back to the station before we head over to the club to let our captain know what we know so far. Then, we can stop and eat. I'm starving."

Wes replied, "You're always starving. Why can't you just say you're hungry? At least that I can understand, but you're not starving."

"Man, you are such a killjoy," Travis said. "You need to loosen up and learn to stop being so Wes. "I am amazed you got Alex to like you; and Kendall too. Something has to be seriously wrong with those too."

"Now, you're just being hurtful," Wes responded mockingly. "Let's get out of here before anything happens."

Travis answered, "Scaredy-cat."


	5. Chapter 5

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Five

On their way back to the office, Wes stopped off at Travis' favorite pizza restaurant that was designed to look and feel like an old fashioned pizza parlor, for dinner, in order to get Travis to complaining about how hungry he was. Wes just wanted to explain their case to their captain, hoping that he'd have some kind of insight to their mess of information. He wasn't sure why yet, but he was beginning to have a bad feeling about this case. However, Wes decided to keep his feeling to himself until it would be necessary to tell Travis about it.

"I don't know why you can't just wait until you get home tonight to eat," Wes stated as he finally pulled into the parlor's parking lot. "I usually wait until I get back home. It's beginning to get late already."

"First of all, you don't have a home," Travis replied sarcastically. "I've told you a million times that barely living in a hotel is not considered living in a home. And second, I am not you. I am hungry now and it's just about dinner time, so quit complaining about stopping and let's eat. Is there something bothering you? You seem grumpier than usual."

Wes didn't get out of his car right away like Travis did, as he just stared out the windshield and answered, "No, I'm fine. I'm only trying to piece together what we've gathered so far."

Travis continued walking toward the restaurant backward as he kept his eyes trained on his partner and responded, "Well, piece together the information inside while we eat. I'm…"

"If you say you're starving one more time, I'm going to make you regret it later," Wes interrupted as he finally got out of the car and followed his partner inside. "There are plenty of things I've got on you that I could talk about in our next therapy session that, believe me, you won't want me to say in front of the others."

"What kind of stuff?" Travis asked curiously. "You don't have anything on me."

As they took a seat at one of the tables, Wes looked at his partner, who was waiting for an answer as Wes asked, "Remember when you told me to remind you to never piss me off back when Phil and Morgan were here because I play for keeps? Don't you think I would have gathered something on you in order to keep you from getting out of line?"

The waitress came over just as Travis replied, "You are in a bad mood tonight. I'm sorry all right. Let's just eat and then we can get back to the office like you want. Hello again, Sarah. And how are you tonight?"

"I'm doing fine, Travis," Sarah, the waitress answered as she smiled at him. "I take it I'm getting two of the Travis specials to go?"

"That would be great, Sweetheart," Travis responded as he glared over at his partner, who was just holding the bridge of his nose with his head down and eyes closed. "Are you sure you're all right there, Wes?"

Wes quickly looked up and then replied, "Yes, I'm fine. Whatever you just ordered is fine with me."

Travis smiled at Sarah as she nodded and then walked away to put the order in, then Travis turned back to Wes and said, "All right, spill it. What's going on?"

"I told you," Wes answered in frustration. "Why do you keep asking me what's wrong?"

"Because you never let me order for you," Travis responded. "You can tell me; is it something about the case?"

Wes quietly replied, "I'm fine. Maybe I'm a bit tired and I can feel a headache coming on, but I'm fine, I promise."

Before Travis could say anymore, Travis' phone rang and when he answered it, Wes could tell that it was Kendall on the other line, rambling on about something she had found out about their case. Wes rolled his eyes when Travis mentioned something about the stupid video game he and Kendall played online together sometimes, but after another minute, Travis finally hung up and smiled at Wes.

Travis spoke up saying, "It looks like we might not have to go to the club after all, at least not tonight. We've got ourselves a number one suspect."

"Who?" Wes asked skeptically. "Did Kendall really find something already?"

"It looks like Connie was right about Jeremy Walker having a dark side," Travis answered smugly. "The techs found the knife used to kill Ryan hidden inside Jeremy's jacket pocket that was hanging up in the closet. Jeremy's prints were all over it. Kendall also found some pretty threatening emails written to Ryan by Jeremy on Ryan's laptop."

Wes thought for a moment and then responded, "I looked inside the closet and I don't remember seeing a jacket in it; hanging up or down on the floor. I know that the kid's alibi is a little shaky, as he could have easily slipped out in the middle of the night when Anna was asleep, and he may have a dark side like Connie said, but he didn't strike me as a killer, especially one as sadistic as he would have to be in order to kill Ryan like that."

Travis looked at his partner as he replied, "Wes, you know that there are people that are brilliant at hiding who they really are. I mean, take the cop, who fooled you into believing that the innocent kid you sent to prison was guilty, when it turns out he was the scumbag all along. You considered him your friend."

"Which is why we need to think this all the way through and not jump to any conclusions just because we have evidence that shows Jeremy might be our killer," Wes said sullenly as he stood and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Travis to deal with getting their food as Sarah returned.

"Damn," Travis cursed before turning to face Sarah as she handed him the bill for their food. "Sorry about that, Sarah."

As Travis paid, Sarah quickly asked, "Is your partner all right?"

Travis looked out the window to observe his partner, who was sitting once again in the driver's seat of his car, staring out at nothing, then turned back to Sarah and answered, "Yeah, uh, not really. I just opened my big mouth again and hit a nerve. I need to learn to stop bringing up a sore subject with him; that's all. Thanks for everything tonight, Sarah. Let's get together soon for a recap of our last night together."

"Sounds good, Sugar," Sarah responded as Travis turned and walked out carrying his and his partner's food with him.

"I didn't mean to bring it up again, Man," Travis quickly said in sincerity. "I'm really trying."

Wes nodded and then after driving in silence for a few minutes, he finally spoke up saying, "You're right about me not seeing the truth that was right in front of me before, but I think you're wrong about Jeremy. I just have a feeling, he's not who we're after. I can't explain it."

Travis suddenly received a text on his phone and after reading it he looked over at Wes sadly and replied, "Well, if you're right, then he's not doing a great job convincing people he's innocent. Goodin and Scott arrived at his dorm a few minutes ago to arrest him and Jeremy took someone hostage at gunpoint."

"What the hell are they thinking trying to jump in on our case?" Wes answered angrily as he reached down and turned on the lights while speeding up to get back to the dorm as quickly as possible.


	6. Chapter 6

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Six

As soon as they arrived back at the college campus, Wes and Travis found a number of squad cars parked both in front of the dorm where Jeremy lives, as well as in front of a shopping center across the street from the dorm. Wes and Travis ran forward to find out from the officers that had all moved outside of the shopping center what was going on, but before they could, they found that there was someone on top of the roof, dangerously close to the ledge. They didn't need someone to tell them that it was Jeremy and whoever he had taken hostage.

Wes took off running into the shopping center and raced as quickly as he could up the several flights of stairs that it took to reach the roof, as the building was at least ten stories tall. Travis quickly shouted out orders to the other officers around them, telling them that he and his partner were in charge, not anyone else, including Goodin and Scott, whom he figured out was already up on the roof, and then quickly followed after Wes.

As Wes finally made it up, he swiftly moved along the roof and shouted out, "Brady, Nora, get back! You're invading in our case and if you keep moving forward with your guns in your hand, you're going to get both the suspect and his hostage killed. I'll take it from here."

Nora Scott looked over at Wes as he pushed his way through her and her partner and called back, "No way, Mitchell! This is our case and this kid is the suspect in killing a waitress downtown."

"I didn't kill anybody!" Jeremy cried as he moved closer to the edge that was secured by a weak banister that someone could easily fall over or crawl over, under, and in between in order to jump, while still keeping his own gun trained on the detectives and held the young woman Wes and Travis now saw was Connie, who was whimpering in fear, tightly against his body. "Not some waitress and I didn't kill Ryan either! He was my friend! I was set up!"

"I believe you, Jeremy," Wes answered calmly as he slowly continued to move forward with one hand up in the air and the other one holding his gun, ignoring both Scott and Goodin as they tried to protest until Travis came up from behind them to pull them back. "I believe that you didn't hurt your roommate, but by holding Connie hostage and keeping your gun trained on four detectives, you're not doing anything to convince us that you're innocent. This is wrong and you know it."

Jeremy shook his head and responded angrily, "You're only saying what I want to hear to get me to let her go so that you can shoot me. I can see that you all believe I'm guilty."

Travis slowly moved forward up behind his partner as he replied, "You're wrong, Kid. My partner here actually does believe you. I want to, but like Wes said, you're not doing a good job at convincing me."

"I'm putting my gun down on the ground now," Wes continued as he slowly lowered his gun and let it go as it lay on top of the roof, slowly opened both sides of his suit coat and spun around to show that he was completely disarmed, then finally raised his hands back up in the air. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt you. My partner and I just want to talk to you. Please, let Connie go and we'll talk, just me and you; no games. Travis, get Brady and Nora out of here."

"We're not going anywhere," Brady answered as Travis suddenly pulled their guns from their hands and quickly aimed them at them in order to get them to listen. "You won't shoot us, Travis."

Travis glared at them as he responded firmly, "You really don't want to test me. Now, get moving back down the stairs and wait on the ground for us to bring the suspect down, like everyone else."

The two detectives did as Travis said, but Nora quickly spoke up before disappearing, "You and your partner are going to pay for this, Travis."

"We've heard that line a dozen times, but we're both still here," Travis called back as he moved away from the stairwell and walked slowly back toward his partner in order to keep an eye on him and the others, but stayed back so that he wouldn't spook Jeremy any more than he already was.

"The others are gone now, Jeremy," Wes spoke up again after he and Jeremy remained silent while their suspect contemplated his options. "Please just let her go and talk to me. You want a hostage, take me."

Jeremy looked closely at Wes' face in order to see if he was showing any signs of deception and when he saw that the detective seemed sincere, he finally released his hold on Connie, who ran forward past Wes and Travis and down the stairs to get away. However, as soon as he let her go, Jeremy raised his gun and pointed it at Wes, as he backed up closer toward the railing.

He replied, "I didn't want to take Connie hostage, but I had no choice. The other two detectives broke down my door as Connie and I were arguing about Ryan's death. They wanted to arrest me for killing some waitress, I've never even heard of. I had to grab her. I wasn't about to let them take me to prison. I'd rather die than go back."

"Jeremy, stop!" Wes shouted as the kid bumped up against the railing and then suddenly stepped over to stand on the ledge as he faced outward, while using one hand to hold onto the railing and the other to keep his gun raised at Wes to prevent him from trying to stop him. "You don't really want to die. I can help you if you let me."

"Don't come any closer," Jeremy said angrily as he looked over his shoulder to see Wes as he slowly continued to move toward him. "I will jump. Even if you do believe that I didn't kill Ryan and that girl, I still have to go to prison now for taking a hostage and pointing my gun at you and your partners. You can't fix that."

Wes shook his head as he answered, "You're right. I can't change that, but I won't press charges for you holding your gun on me and I have a feeling that my partner won't either. You just have to trust me. Take my hand and I will help you come back over. Let me help you, please."

As Jeremy saw that Wes was almost within reach, he finally nodded as he dropped his gun to the ground and moved to turn around in order to take the detective's hand, but as soon as he did so, one of the stones that made up the ledge broke off from the building and Jeremy began to fall. However, Wes suddenly reached out to grab him, but the force of Jeremy's fall was too much for Wes to be able to hold onto both Jeremy and the banister himself, causing him to fall over the railing. Luckily, Jeremy was able to grab onto Wes' legs and hung on, as Wes managed to grab a hold of the ledge and one of the banister's poles when Travis suddenly appeared and grabbed onto his partner's arms to prevent him completely losing his grip.

As soon as Jeremy slipped and he saw Wes reach out to grab a hold of him, as Travis knew that the weight would be too strong for his partner to keep himself from falling over as well, Travis raced to the edge in order to fight to save his partner and to help him pull both Jeremy and himself back up.

As soon as Wes felt Travis' hands grab onto him, they both locked eyes and then Wes looked down toward Jeremy and called out, "Jeremy, I need you to pull yourself up and allow my partner to grab onto you. He won't let you go, will you Travis?"

"I won't, but you're going to have to hurry up," Travis responded through gritted teeth as holding them both up, despite Wes' own hold on the railing and ledge, was becoming more difficult. "We can't hold on forever."

Jeremy began to climb up and managed to make it up to Wes' lower back until he suddenly lost his grip on Wes' jacket and slipped. Wes quickly let go of his right hand's hold on Travis in order to reach out to try to catch him, but he was too late as Jeremy fell to his death as his body hit the ground below.

"No!" Wes cried out devastatingly.

Travis used both of his hands to grab a hold of Wes' left arm as soon as he let go of him with his other hand. He watched fearfully as the kid fell and then looked down fearfully at his partner, who was only staring at the ground in shock. However, he suddenly snapped out of his own shock and tightened his grip on his partner and called out to him to get his attention.

"Wes, hey, I need you to give me your other hand or you're going to fall too," he said forcefully. "Come on, Man. We may fight like cats and dogs, but you're still my partner until Captain Sutton orders us to split up. I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, grab my hand and help me pull you up!"

Wes finally heard him and locked eyes with him once again as he reached up and began to climb, while Travis grabbed onto his jacket and the back of his pants and belt when he was sure Wes had a grip on the railing. After a long struggle to get up and over the railing, Wes was finally laying down on the rooftop with his eyes closed tightly, fighting to get air back into his lungs as it took a lot of effort for him to breathe properly again.

Travis slowly sat up and looked down sadly at his partner, but he remained silent while he waited for Wes to make the first move to get up off the ground or to talk. He could see that Wes was shaking as he moved his hand up to his head in order to cover up his eyes. Travis knew exactly what was going through Wes' mind right then. He was blaming himself for what he believed was another innocent person dying.


	7. Chapter 7

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Seven

After Travis and Wes eventually walked back down the building's stairs to the street below, they both passed by all of the officers, who only stared at them as they had witnessed the tragedy minutes earlier, in silence. Neither one of them had spoken since Travis had pulled Wes back over the edge and Travis didn't expect that his partner would anytime soon.

As they walked past the area where Jeremy's body was lying on the ground, Travis turned to look as a few officers were currently covering him with a blanket in order to keep the gruesome sight from the onlookers around them, mainly the students from the campus across the street. Wes just kept walking by without turning as he left the scene and sat down in the passenger's side of his car for a change.

Travis noticed this, but before heading to the car, he turned to the officers and said firmly, "Each of you saw what happened here tonight. My partner did everything he could to save our victim, both up on the roof, as well as after they both fell over the edge. His death came because a stone gave way as he tried to pull himself back over the railing before he fell. There was no wrongdoing on our end and I suggest that no one here tries to make it appear otherwise; not to your teammates or superiors and especially not to the press. Make sure that his body gets to where it needs to be and the scene is properly sealed off from the public."

As he finished, Travis walked over to Wes' car and sat down behind the wheel as he quickly looked over at Wes, who only continued staring ahead, then turned back to face forward as he started the ignition and began to drive back to their headquarters. When they arrived and walked in, they ignored the stares of the other officers and detectives as they made their way to Captain Sutton's office.

They found that both Brady and Nora were standing in front of Sutton's desk as they were arguing with the captain about Wes' and Travis' actions when they tried to arrest their suspect. Scott and Goodin have had it out for Wes and Travis since they had started working with them and they hoped that this incident would be the time the two argumentative detectives would finally pay the price for their crazy antics.

As soon as Wes and Travis walked in the office, Nora spoke up saying, "These two made it impossible for us to do our job and now because of their recklessness and disregard for the rules, the kid is now dead."

"It's their fault he's dead," Brady added. "Not ours."

"If it weren't for you and Brady charging in without speaking with us first, then Jeremy wouldn't have taken a hostage and he never would have run up onto that roof," Travis retorted angrily. "Wes and I were on our way to talk with him again when we got the call that the two of you moved in to arrest him. What were you thinking jumping in on our case anyway and what the hell is this about Jeremy murdering a waitress?"

Captain Sutton suddenly shouted, "Shut up, all of you! Wes, Travis, have a seat. When we got word of the waitress being killed, I assigned the case to Scott and Goodin. Their evidence led them to your suspect as well. It looks like your cases have crossed. Now that the suspect is dead, do you believe the cases to be closed?"

Travis looked over at Wes and then back at the captain as he answered, "Captain, the solid evidence in our murder victim's case pointed to Jeremy Walker and his alibi was shaky at best, but we haven't been given the chance to see if it's possible the kid was set up as he claimed to be before he died. Wes and I would like the chance to see if he was telling the truth."

"You can't do that, Captain!" Brady shouted out. "Three of the waitress' friends said that they have seen Jeremy with her a number of times at the club she worked at. According to them, Jeremy Walker had an obsession with her and tried many times to get her to go back to his dorm, but she kept refusing him and it made him dangerously angry. They all saw him hit her on more than one occasion in anger."

"Was this waitress' name, Jacqueline?" Travis asked quickly. "And this club, the Harem of the Forty Thieves?"

As Brady looked down at Wes, he smugly replied, "That's right. Face it, Wes. Jeremy Walker is our murderer. You nearly got yourself killed trying to protect a monster."

Wes suddenly jumped up from his chair, then grabbed Brady by the collar of his suit and shoved him angrily up against the wall as he responded, "You smug, arrogant bastard!"

"Wes!" Captain Sutton called out from behind his desk as he stood up abruptly. "Stand down!"

"Calm down, Wes," Travis said as he rushed over and struggled to pull his partner off of Brady before he got suspended for attacking another detective. "Believe me, I would like nothing more than to strangle this worm myself, but you know that the captain here looks down on that kind of thing. He isn't worth it, Man."

Once Travis pulled him away, Wes struggled out of his partner's grasp and stormed out of the room, as Brady straightened his collar and rubbed his neck, then shouted out, "You're a freak, Mitchell! You know that? Your partner's an idiot, but you're a joke and the worst of us all! You don't deserve to be one of us!"

Travis moved to stand directly in front of Brady and pointed his finger right in his face as he replied, "If anyone around here is a joke or a freak, it's you and your partner, Brady; not us. As I recall, you got yourself suspended without pay for leaking information to the press. Wes fights for what he believes in no matter what the cost and despite his obsessive compulsions, he's one of the best cops I've ever known. If I ever here you talking about him like that again, I'll make you wish that you got busted back down to writing traffic tickets."

"Since when did you start sticking up for your partner?" Nora asked. "The two of you spend more time trying to kill each other than anything else."

"We may have our issues, but we know where we stand with each other," Travis answered. "Captain, I wasn't sure about Jeremy Walker being innocent before. In fact, I'm still not, but Wes is and that's good enough for me to follow his lead, especially in light of what happened tonight."

Captain Sutton nodded and then responded, "Right now, Wes is blaming himself for not being able to save him, just as he blamed himself for the other guy's death when he was a lawyer. Go find your partner and do whatever you can for him. Take the rest of tonight and tomorrow if you need to. Both cases will remain open and seeing as Jeremy Walker is suspected of killing both his roommate and the waitress, Wes and Travis are now in charge of both. Brady and Nora, you're off. Do I make myself clear, you two?"

Nora protested as she said, "But Captain, you can't be serious. How can you constantly favor these two screw ups?"

"As far as I'm concerned, the two of you are the ones that screwed up here," Sutton replied. "And Wes and Travis are the best detectives I've ever known. Now get out of here, all of you."

"Thank you, Captain," Travis answered solemnly after the others left.

Their captain nodded and then spoke up again saying, "Perhaps you should give Dr. Ryan a call and ask her to help you with your partner. I have a feeling that by the end, he's going to need her."

Travis responded, "I doubt he'll talk to me, Cap, let alone Dr. Ryan. See ya."

"Good luck, Kid," Sutton said quietly to himself as Travis finally left. "You're going to need it."


	8. Chapter 8

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Eight

After he left LAPD's office building, Travis got on his motorcycle and drove toward the hotel where Wes had been living since he moved out of his home after he and Alex were divorced. However, as he pulled up in front, Travis continued sitting on his bike as he contemplated how he was going to approach his partner, whom Travis knew was not in the mood for talking. However, after a few minutes, he was interrupted by a car as it pulled up in front of him and Dr. Ryan stepped out.

Travis shook his head in disbelief as she walked toward him and then spoke up first as he said without surprise in his voice, "Dr. Ryan, let me guess; our captain called you?"

She smiled slightly and then responded, "Yes, Captain Sutton did call me about twenty-five minutes ago. He explained to me what happened tonight. How is Wes?"

"How do you think you would be if you believed you were responsible for the death of not just one, but two innocent people?" Travis asked in reply.

"Not good I'd imagine," she answered sadly. "I don't know if he'd be willing to talk to me, but if I can, I am here to help."

Travis responded, "I doubt he'll even talk to me. You know how he clams up whenever the issues are serious like this. Getting him to open up will be the most difficult task of your career, but if you're game…"

Dr. Ryan looked directly at Travis as she interrupted, "If I wasn't up to trying to treat the most difficult client I've had yet, then I wouldn't be here right now. I knew what I was signing on for when I agreed to start seeing the two of you. And I don't give up."

"All right, but I think it'd be best if you waited here in the lobby," Travis said as they began to walk into the hotel. "He won't want you to come up to his room. Go ahead and get yourself a drink or something to eat if you would like, my treat, and I'll try to find a way to bring him…"

"Travis!" he suddenly heard a woman call out from across the room, then stopped walking forward when he saw Alex rushing toward him.

Once she reached him and Dr. Ryan, Travis quickly asked nervously, "Alex, what… what are you doing here?"

Alex replied angrily, "I came here to talk to Wes, but he isn't answering his door, even after I tried calling out to him. Why didn't you call me after what happened tonight?"

"I wanted to, but… wait a minute, how did you know what happened tonight?" Travis asked again. "Did Sutton call you too?"

"No, I found out about it when I was watching the evening news," Alex answered, still with anger in her voice. "It's been playing over and over since it was on live after six o'clock. I watched in horror as your suspect fell off the roof, pulling Wes down with him."

Truth is, I saw it on the news myself," Dr. Ryan cut in gently. "My step son got me to watch it and then tried to make a point to say that college isn't right for him because of the drugs and other problems that go on around there. I already knew about the incident when Mike called me."

Travis shook his head in frustration as he said crossly, "Damn, I hate the press! Wes was right. They're nothing but vultures. I'm sorry, Alex, this is Dr. Ryan; mine and Wes' therapist. Dr. Ryan, this is Alex."

"I see that you've been talking about me in your sessions," Alex responded as she shook Emma's hand. "It's good to finally meet you."

"Yes, I just wish it wasn't like this," Dr. Ryan replied.

Alex nodded and then looked again at Travis as she asked again, "Why didn't you call me after it happened, Travis? Wes nearly died tonight. Don't you think that I have the right to know about this?"

While Dr. Ryan stood back in order to listen in silence to their conversation, Travis answered softly, "Listen, Alex. Wes told me that he wasn't going to be inserting himself into your life as much anymore. I wanted to call you, but I had a feeling that Wes wouldn't want me to. Besides, you were the one that ended everything between you two because you couldn't cope with him going out and risking his life every day."

"That isn't fair," Alex said sadly as tears began to fall from her eyes. "There's more to it and you know it, just as Wes does. After Wes found out that the man he had sent to prison was innocent, the same night he found out that he had killed himself in his cell, Wes was devastated and he wouldn't talk to anyone; not even to me. He shut himself off from everyone for over a week, as he hardly slept, nor ate, no matter how hard I tried to convince him that what happened was not his fault. I was scared for him, until the night when he finally came out and told me he was quitting being a lawyer to become a cop, where he believed he could make more of a difference. We got into the biggest fight we ever had that night, but eventually, I gave in and I told him that I understood, but I really didn't. We tried to make it work, but his compulsion to try to make sure that everything was perfect and that he didn't ever make a single mistake again finally took its toll and I couldn't live with it anymore. Leaving him was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I still care for him. A part of me will even always love him because I know who he is buried underneath what annoys you so much every day. I hope you can get him to talk. Otherwise, there is nothing left for him if he quits being a detective. We'll lose him for good. Please, help him."

"I promise, I'll do everything I can," Travis responded solemnly. "We've got Dr. Ryan now too. If I can't help him, hopefully she can."

Alex nodded and began to walk away from them until she stopped and suddenly came back over and enveloped him into a hug as she whispered, "Thank you for saving his life up there on that ledge tonight, Travis."

Travis only stared after her as she once again turned away and walked out of the lobby, until Dr. Ryan suddenly spoke up again saying, "Wow, I see now why Wes is having such a hard time letting her go."

"You're telling me," Travis replied and then cleared his throat as he began to walk toward the elevator to go up to his partner's room. "I'll be back down as soon as I can, hopefully with Wes behind me. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck, Travis," Emma answered sincerely, then watched as Travis walked away.

After he left, Dr. Ryan walked into the dining area, which appeared to be pretty empty for the time being, and took a seat at a table near the back of the room. A waiter for the hotel walked over and asked her if she wanted something to eat or drink. Emma only asked for water, then sat back and waited for the detectives to walk in. As she did so, Emma thought back to a conversation she once had had with Wes on the day of her ride along with them.

She had said, "_Yes, but what every group also needs is the guy, who says the things everyone else is too afraid or too polite to say. It stirs the pot._"

Wes responded, "_So you're saying you need me because I'm the asshole._"

"_Honestly, yes,"_ Emma replied half jokingly. "_And I'll confess, that I haven't had much luck historically in treating the asshole._"

"_You know your reverse psychology isn't going to work on me,_" Wes answered smugly.

Dr. Ryan responded, "_I know._"

Emma knew then that Wes was definitely going to be the harder of the two detectives to help, but the more that she got to know him, the more she also got a sense that deep down, he wants to change and that he wants his partnership with Travis to work. The two of them are brothers and he knew it. However, as she thought back to that conversation, she realized something; if she and Travis couldn't get through to him tonight, or within the next few days, then they wouldn't be able to get through to him at all. They would lose him, for good. 


	9. Chapter 9

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Nine

Travis walked slowly up to his partner's room, as he still struggled to work out in his mind what he was going to say, but the more he thought about it, the more difficult he realized this was going to be. This wasn't like the times before when he's been affected by a case. They both have had to kill a murderer or a suspect several times in defense, but this time, a kid died after he had surrendered and surely Wes wasn't going to be the only one to blame himself for his death. The kid's loved ones would most likely blame him, or them, as well, which Travis knew without a doubt that Wes knew too.

Travis walked by one of the hotel's housekeepers as he finally arrived at Wes' room, but as he was about to knock, Travis realized that if Wes didn't answer his door for Alex, then he wasn't going to answer it for him. So, Travis rushed over to the housekeeper and quickly pulled off the key card, which hung down at her side from her apron, as she started to protest.

Travis put his finger to his mouth as he shushed her, then quickly pulled out his badge to show her, and replied, "It's all right, it's all right. I'm a cop. See, here's my badge. The guy that lives in here is my partner. I walk in all the time, but tonight, I accidently left my key at home. Go back to what you were doing. What time do you… never mind. I got to go."

As Travis swiped the key and started to open the door to enter into Wes' room, the woman spoke up saying, "I'm going to need the key back."

Travis only smiled at her as she glared at him while he quickly handed it back, then turned and slowly walked into the room. The room was dark expect for the lights coming in through the large window overlooking the balcony that gave Wes a great view of the city, so he struggled to see as he continued to walk further in. When his eyes finally adjusted, he saw Wes was sitting down on the floor on the other side of his bed that faced the window.

As he walked around the bed and could finally see most of his partner, Travis found that Wes was just staring ahead out the window and that he was holding a glass, which Travis figured that it was some kind of alcohol. No doubt it was a pretty strong one that he had ordered to help him drown out whatever was going through his mind then.

"I don't recall hearing you knock or saying you can come in," Wes said softly without turning away from whatever it was he was staring at.

"Yeah, I… uh… I grabbed a key from off of one of the housekeepers in the hallway and let myself in," Travis responded as he walked around Wes and took a seat on the floor beside him, then hoped for a response from his partner, but only got more silence. "I ran into Alex down in the lobby and since you didn't let her in, I knew you wouldn't open the door for me, so… You have a great view. I had no idea, since you never let me come in here. Listen, I know that you know that I can talk for hours, but I won't if you just talk to me. Believe me, I have an idea what you're feeling right now. Help me to understand so that I can help you."

Wes answered firmly. "There's nothing to talk about. I messed up, again, and now a nineteen year old college student is dead because of me. I can't do this anymore."

Travis looked over at him in shock as he quickly replied, "Whoa, wait a minute. What do you mean you're finished? Finished with what; you mean being a detective? That's crazy! Wes, you're one of the best detectives in the LAPD. Maybe not better than me, but…"

"Why is that so crazy?" Wes asked as he suddenly raised his voice in anger. "I screwed up and I can't fix it. Another innocent person is dead because of me. I don't deserve to wear a badge, just as I didn't deserve to be a lawyer. I'm not good enough."

"Listen, you cannot blame yourself for part of the roof of that old building giving way, causing Jeremy to fall," Travis responded. "It was unfortunate, but you did everything you could to save his life. You say I'm the better negotiator and I joke around when I agree with you, but the truth is, it isn't true. There is no way I could have convinced him to let Connie go and then to finally agree to give himself up. You did that and you nearly died when you went over the ledge yourself trying to catch him and pull him back up. You actually believe he was innocent and he saw that. Now, I need you to prove it to me. You need to prove it to everyone so that we can clear Jeremy's name and find the real scumbag that's responsible for killing both Ryan and probably Jacqueline too."

Wes finally looked over at his partner as he asked sadly, "And what if I can't. What if I'm just fooling myself into wanting to believe he's innocent?"

Travis shook his head and answered, "Don't do that. Don't go second guessing yourself now because your head's not in the right place. You were one hundred percent positive that Jeremy was innocent before all this crap happened, which means that deep down, something is still telling you he's innocent. You need to get back to being Wes and don't try to over-think everything. Let's focus on the evidence we've got and then work on trying to dispute it a bit at a time."

Wes looked away and then slowly stood up as he replied, "All I do is over-think everything, Travis. You remind of it every day. Please, just leave. I'm not in the mood to argue with you. Clearly, we're not going to agree that this couldn't have been prevented. I couldn't have helped that the stone came loose, but I should have been able to talk him down before he made it over the railing."

"Wes, I…" Travis began to say softly before he was cut off as Wes suddenly shouted once again for him to leave.

Travis nodded and then walked out, closing the door quietly behind him. After he once again reached the lobby, he scanned the room for Dr. Ryan and found her sitting down at one of the tables in the dining room, then slowly walked over to her. Dr. Ryan could see from his face that the talk did not go as well as he had hoped.

"How is he doing?" she asked as he took a seat beside her at the table.

Travis responded, "Not good. He's in his head and it's a pretty dark place right now."

Emma nodded and then answered, "The two of you are both very sensitive, but in different ways. You see, you are extremely confident with yourself, which allows you to have all of the relationships that you do, but you're afraid of getting hurt by a woman and so you won't allow anyone, but your foster families to be close. Wes, on the other hand, is not at all confident with himself, which is why he over-thinks everything and why he has trouble talking about his deeply rooted issues, such as why he pulled his gun on you. It's also why he is having a hard time moving on from Alex. She let him in once and he blames himself for ruining their marriage."

"Why shouldn't I blame myself?" Wes asked as he suddenly appeared from behind them. "It was after all my fault. But that isn't what I came down here to talk about. I was hoping you, Travis, were still here. I wanted to apologize for treating you the way I did. I had no right to when you were only trying to help me. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Travis replied as he indicated for Wes to come and have a seat.

Wes slowly complied as he responded, "I didn't realize you would be here, Dr. Ryan. It's a little late, don't you think?"

Emma nodded as she answered, "Yes, but when my clients need my help, I do what I can for them, no matter the hour, and after seeing what happened earlier tonight, it is clear to me that you would need my help whenever you were ready to talk."

"I want to go back to doing my job so that I can finish helping Jeremy like I promised, but I don't know how," Wes said despondently. "My mind isn't focusing right now. What if I can't?"

"That is why I am here," Emma replied. "To help you to go back to being the brilliant detective that you are. As for everything else, that can wait for another time."


	10. Chapter 10

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Ten

The next morning, Travis walked into Captain Sutton's office and asked him if he could go out and order both Goodin and Scott to hand over their evidence and the work they had done so far on their victim's case, knowing that they wouldn't do it willingly without direct orders from the captain.

Sutton looked at Travis and then said, "I thought I told you to take today off. What are you doing here and where is your partner? Did everything go well last night between you, Wes, and Dr. Ryan?"

Travis shook his hands as he answered, "Whoa, easy there, Captain. First of all, I just want to get back to work, as I am sure Wes will agree, if he comes in this morning, so that we can finally get this case over with. And second of all, what happened between me and Wes and our therapist is between us. We all talked and then I left so that they could talk on their own. If he doesn't come in today, then…"

"Travis, did you get it yet?" Wes suddenly called out from the main room as he took a seat at his desk.

"I guess their conversation went well," Travis spoke up again as he looked down at Sutton and then turned and walked back out of the office, shortly followed by their boss.

When he noticed Travis walking toward him from the captain's office, Wes looked up at his partner and quickly asked again, "So, did you get it?"

Travis responded, "The captain's going to go get it now. I take it the rest of your talk with Dr. Ryan paid off last night. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I think I've got a long way to go before I can stop blaming myself, but I am better than I was last night," Wes replied. "I'm ready to focus and do whatever it takes to help Jeremy and find whoever really killed Ryan and Jacqueline."

"You no longer have the urge to kill Brady then?" Travis asked as both Brady and Nora walked by glaring at them.

Wes quickly answered, "Oh, no, I still want to kill him, but if your question is really, am I going to, then the answer is no. I'm not going to kill him."

As he came over and stood beside Travis' desk, their captain responded, "That's good to know. The stuff you asked for is on its way. Scott and Goodin are still pretty upset that I gave away the case to you again, but they're going to have to live with it if they want to continue working here, which reminds me, I need the two of you to do me one more thing on top of trying to solve this case."

"Captain, our hands are already full as it is," Wes replied.

"I know, but this is a part of it," Mike answered and then lowered his voice. "I saw the news last night. It played the story over and over and they probably will for some time, at least until this case is solved. They got some pretty gruesome footage and their speculations have been pretty negative. I've been getting several calls all night and all morning from a number of people, some of whom are trying to put the blame for the kid's death on you two, mainly you, Wes."

Wes scoffed angrily, "That explains why there were reporters outside of the hotel this morning. A dozen of them were waiting to talk with me, hoping that I would give them something about the case. How can they do that? I mean, the footage wasn't that great and they couldn't possibly know what went on up there on that roof."

Mike nodded and then responded, "I agree, which is why I believe that someone called up a source within the press, which explains how the cameras got to the campus so quickly, and has been talking about things they have no right to be talking about, in hope of making you two look bad."

"Brady," Travis replied angrily.

"Or Nora, or both," Mike added. "My problem is, there is no proof that either one of them were talking to the reporters, which brings me to asking the two of you to do what you can to find some, or they are both going to get away with it and I don't want detectives, who are deliberately trying to make my two best detectives look bad and giving away the details of an open case, on my team."

Wes nodded and answered, "We'll do what we can, Captain."

As Mike went back to his office, Brady and Nora finally came back over with their files and the evidence they had collected so far and just dropped everything on both Wes' and Travis' desks, then walked away without saying a word. Travis looked over the reports, while Wes began to take out the evidence from the box to look it over.

Travis finally spoke up again saying, "So, Jacqueline's time of death was about two and a half hours after Ryan's time of death, which means there was still plenty of time for Jeremy to kill them both before sneaking back into Anna's place, not that I am saying he definitely killed them. It looks like Jacqueline was stabbed as well, but much less brutally and with a different weapon."

"Yeah, I'm looking at both of the knives right now," Wes responded as he held them up, while they still remained in the evidence bags. "Do the reports say that Jeremy's prints are on both of the knives?"

"Yeah, they both do," Travis replied after he quickly scanned over the documents. "And the blood matches both of our victims."

Wes pulled out the bag that contained the jacket that the first knife used to kill Ryan was in as Wes said in confusion. "As I told you earlier, I didn't see this jacket in the closet when I searched through it while we questioned Jeremy. It wasn't hanging up and it wasn't down on the floor."

Travis looked over at his partner and then asked, "How could a jacket suddenly appear out of thin air? Who all was inside the dorm room while we were searching it?"

"Aside from us and Jeremy, just the techs," Wes answered. "The only thing that would make sense would be that someone somehow snuck in and planted it there when none of us were looking."

"Then, how do you explain Jeremy's prints on both knives, which both belong to Jeremy, the one knife found in Jeremy's jacket, and Jeremy's shoe prints left behind at Jacqueline's crime scene, the imprints being in her blood?" Travis asked. "I'm looking at the picture right now."

Wes pulled the picture away from his partner and then picked up the pair of shoes that the techs had picked up from the garbage pail outside of Jacqueline's home, which also contained all of the bloody clothes. According to the techs, they confirmed that everything, as they were all the right size, did indeed belong to Jeremy Walker.

Wes shook his head and then responded, "I have no idea. If I am right about Jeremy being innocent, then someone went through a lot of trouble to frame him, but I'm not going to quit trying to prove that I'm right. I know what I saw in his eyes before he died. Since I can't save his life, I will fight to prove he was innocent."


	11. Chapter 11

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Eleven

As they finally finished going over what Goodin and Scott had gathered on Jacqueline's murder so far and then compared the case to Ryan's murder, Wes and Travis looked at each other and began to spit out theories, hoping that something would give them a lead or at least a start on where to go next.

"It's clear that both murders were committed by the same person, as both Ryan's and Jacqueline's deaths were identical," Wes said. "But even though she was stabbed fewer times than Ryan, her murder was sloppier."

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Travis agreed. "It looks like the killer took the time to make the kill and then clean up any kind of evidence left behind that may lead us back to them when he or she killed Ryan. However, when they killed Jacqueline, they became sloppy and left the bloody knife on the ground beside her body, as well as their shoe imprints in her blood."

Wes quickly replied, "What if our killer knew that he or she had plenty of time to kill Ryan and thought they did with Jacqueline too, but then someone or something interrupted them, making it so that the killer had to run, leaving everything behind. It's possible we may have a witness to Jacqueline's murder, but why wouldn't they come forward?"

Travis shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I don't know. According to Brady's notes, Jacqueline's body was found by her sister, who came over to Jacqueline's apartment early yesterday morning to drag her out for a jog. Apparently, Jacqueline has been feeling depressed lately. I think we really need to go to the nightclub. I'm telling you, this place and the people that go there may be crazy and freaky, but the women must be fine!"

"I agree, but it's too early to go now," Wes responded nonchalantly as Travis noticed he was staring off again at nothing in particular.

"No jab, no witty remark about what I just said?" Travis asked in surprise. "That's not like you. You always have something to say about how rude or degrading that kind of remark is."

Wes suddenly turned back to his partner and replied, "I'm going to go grab a sandwich from the café across the street. It's a little early, but since we have nothing really to do besides speculate, I figured we could do both. Did you want something?"

Travis had become concerned at Wes' strange attitude as he answered, "What? No… no thank you. Since when do you offer to buy me lunch?"

"I figured it would nice for a change," Wes responded softly, then turned and walked away.

"I really hate that this case fell to us," Travis said out loud to himself, not noticing that Mike had just then walked over from behind him.

Sutton was eating what looked to Travis like a breakfast burrito as the man replied, "I know that you do and believe me, if I had known that what happened yesterday was going to happen, I would have assigned this case to Kate and Amy instead. Where's Wes going?"

Travis looked up at their boss and answered, "Wes is not acting right, Cap. I mean, he's being… nice. He hasn't said one sarcastic remark to me ever since he apologized to me last night, except for that little jab about wanting to kill Brady, but that wasn't aimed at me. It was nothing. Oh, and just now, he offered to buy me lunch. He never offers to pay for lunch, even though he's the one with all the money. Dr. Ryan may have gotten him back to work, but I'm telling you, he is far from being all right."

"He will be all right," Captain Sutton responded. "You just need to give him time. Help him to get his head straight again so that the two of you can solve this case because if you don't, Wes will never be the same again, as this will haunt him for the rest of his life. Do you know what John Locke said once, Travis?"

"Who is John Locke?" Travis asked.

Amy walked by and without stopping quickly replied, "John Locke is a famous philosopher, with a few ideas similar to Plato and Aristotle. It's no wonder you don't know him."

Travis mimicked her just like a child would until Mike sat down in Wes' chair and answered, "Tabula Rasa; it means blank slate or white paper that is void of any character and without ideas. John Locke said that a mind is like a blank slate, until our experiences fill it, driving us to make the choices we make. Wes' mind was a blank slate back when he was a lawyer, until he had the tragic experience of an innocent man committing suicide. This experience changed him and helped him to realize that he wasn't doing what was right for himself. It's why he is now a detective. Eventually, he came around."

"But Cap, at least then Wes had an answer for the slump he fell into," Travis responded. "What if he can't figure this case out? You said it yourself, he'll be lost."

"Yes, but this time, he has you to help him figure it all out," Mike replied as he stood up and began to walk back toward his office. "Now, I suggest you do just that and for starters, you can go after your partner and accept lunch from him, before he becomes his old self and never offers it to you again."

Travis smiled as he walked away and then stood and ran out of the office to go and find Wes, hoping to catch him before he made it back. As he waited for the elevator to stop down in the lobby, Travis thought about what their captain had said. He understood most of it, but he was never a fan of philosophy and had a tendency to fall asleep in class when he was forced to take it in college.

By the time he finally made it out of the building, Travis walked down the street a little ways and noticed his partner as he walked out of the café with a bag and two cups of coffee in his hands. Travis stood back and waited for him as he began to cross the street, but as soon as he stepped out, a car suddenly sped up, aiming directly for Wes.

Travis shouted out his name as Wes had seen the car coming as well and tried to dodge out of the way in time, but unfortunately, his effort wasn't enough as the corner of the car managed to clip Wes' legs, causing him to crash up onto the roof of the car, smash into the windshield, and then finally fall forward, as he landed hard on the ground unconscious. Travis ran over to stand in front of his partner as he fired several rounds from his gun toward the driver of the car, who only just kept on going, eventually turning a corner and then disappeared.

Travis set his gun down on the ground beside him as he knelt over Wes and quickly called for an ambulance. Then, when he finished, he scanned his eyes over his partner's body looking for his injuries. He couldn't tell right then how bad Wes' condition was, but the only wound he could see was the large gash on the side of his head from the impact it made against whatever had caused the damage. Unfortunately, Travis couldn't see who was driving the car as he was more focused on his partner, but he knew that whoever it was had sped up deliberately, gunning to kill Wes.


	12. Chapter 12

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Twelve

About an hour and a half after Travis had witnessed his partner get knocked to the ground by a hit and run driver, Travis finally was allowed to walk into the operating room that the paramedics had wheeled Wes into just after they arrived at the hospital. As he did, he was surprised to see Wes sitting up on the table as he was slowly and painfully putting his shirt back on. A large piece of gauze covered the area where he had hit his head, evidently against the windshield, as the doctors had mentioned that they had to remove tiny shards of glass, not just from his head, but from his back and arms as well.

"You know, you really should take it easy and allow the doctors to finish treating you," Travis spoke up as Wes noticed him walking toward him. "You're lucky that you're not hurt much worse than you are."

"I know," Wes responded as he finally finished getting dressed. "Believe me, there's nothing I want more than to go home and lie down to take it easy, but I can't. We've got a job to do and I won't allow you to do it on your own. I'm the one that owes it to Jeremy to make things right and the fact that someone just tried to kill me so that I couldn't do my job, means that I was right about Jeremy being innocent."

Travis replied, "Agreed, but how are you really feeling? I mean, do you really feel up to going back to work?"

Wes answered, "I'm all right, Travis. It's just a few bumps and bruises."

"And a concussion from that large gash on the side of your head," Alex suddenly said as she slowly walked into the room a few minutes later.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" Wes asked in surprise as Travis took a few steps back. "How did you…?"

Alex cut him off as she responded, "Travis called me. I scolded him when he didn't call me after last night. Two days in a row, Wes. You were nearly killed two days in a row and for what? To help a college student, who was into drugs and twisted sex clubs and who was accused of being a murderer?"

Wes slid off of the table and nearly lost his balance when he put weight on his sore legs, until Travis rushed forward and helped him to stand, then Wes spoke up again as he replied, "I don't have time for this right now, Alex. Besides, it's not like you really have a say in what I do anymore. This is my job and what you've heard about in the news is nothing but bull shit."

"I just don't want Travis to come to my door in the next few days to tell me that you died!" she shouted. "Is that so terrible?"

"That isn't going to happen," Wes answered softly. "Travis has my back. I don't often give him the credit he deserves, but he has always been here for me when I've needed him, no matter how much crap we dish out to each other. We're partners and no matter our differences, we protect each other."

Travis smiled as he responded, "Aah, that's so sweet, but all your niceness is really beginning to make me sick."

As Travis helped him stand up more on his own, Wes quickly replied, "Yeah, well don't expect it anymore. We've got a job to do."

"Now that's the Wes I know!" Travis cried out excitedly. "You're back! What happened?"

"Someone just tried to kill me, that's what happened," Wes answered as he began to walk toward the doors with his partner's help. "I'm a little ticked off right now. Listen, Alex. I appreciate that you still care enough for me to come down here even though you swore that night that you wouldn't, but I have to do this. The suspect all over the news is innocent and someone just tried to stop me from finding out the truth. I owe it to the kid to clear his name, whether if I am guilty of him dying, or not."

Travis nodded and responded, "He's right. I promise you, that I won't let him out of my sight until this case is over."

Wes glared at Travis as he replied, "I don't need a babysitter."

"Clearly," Travis answered sarcastically. "Are you really sure about leaving here? I can handle this you know. Captain Sutton can call in some security to make sure you're safe as you rest up and get better, while I go around catching the bad guys. I'm sure Amy and Kate would be more than happy to help me out until you're better."

"No," Wes responded firmly. "I'm coming and there's nothing you can say to talk me out of it. Now help me out of here so that we can get back to the office."

Alex followed after them and then when they stopped at the nurses counter in order to pick up the medication one of the doctors had prescribed for him, Alex walked over to stand in front of him once again and said, "Promise me, that you will be more careful and allow Travis to do all the heavy lifting until this case is over."

Wes nodded as he replied, "I promise and thank you. You know, for being here anyway."

"You know, Wes, you may just end up back together yet," Travis spoke up again after he watched Alex lean closer to kiss Wes gently on his cheek and then smile at him before turning and walking away.

"You're wrong," Wes answered sadly as he stared after her as well. "As much as I want it, I can't do that to her. She left me because she was afraid to end up alone and if I were to allow her to disregard her fears to come back to me… I just know that she deserves to be happy with a man, who can give her the kind of life she's always wanted; the kind of life she'd never be able to have with me."

Travis looked at his partner sadly, but also with surprise as he asked, "Wow, does this mean that you're finally ready to move on without her?"

Wes quickly turned to a nurse as she walked over to hand him some medication as well as a pair of crutches to help him walk without having to depend on Travis, thanked her and one of the doctors for their help, then turned back to Travis and responded, "Not totally, but I finally understand that it's time I tried."


	13. Chapter 13

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Thirteen

On their way back to the office, Travis stopped off at Wes' hotel so that he could change, as his clothes he was wearing when he had been hit by the car were both torn and dirty. Wes grumbled as he used the crutches to walk, but he had no choice. His legs were hurting too much for him to be able to walk without the assistance for the time being, but he was grateful that the crash wasn't enough to break them or cause any major damage. A concussion was serious, but not bad enough that he couldn't do his job. The medication he was given was going to have to be enough to help him cope with the pain he felt, pretty much everywhere.

As they walked into the LAPD building, Mike was waiting for the two detectives just inside the metal detectors and as they made their way over, he spoke up saying, "Thank God you're all right, Wes. If only I hadn't babbled on to your partner for so long. If I hadn't, he would have gotten out of here sooner to meet up with you."

Travis replied sheepishly, "I wasn't actually planning on going out after you. Cap here had to convince me that I should."

"It's all right, Captain," Wes responded. "It's not like he could have done anything. Someone is watching us. They knew exactly when to make their move. Is there any chance you managed to catch their license plate number, Travis?"

"There were no license plates," Travis answered. "Whoever drove the car, obviously removed the plates so that we wouldn't be able to identify him, or her."

Wes nodded and then said, "Whoever the people are that are involved, are smart and they know how to cover their tracks. There's got to be something that will give us a lead."

Travis replied, "I have a feeling the people we've questioned so far aren't telling us something, or they're out right lying to us. If there are drugs being distributed at this club that are turning people into psychos, then surely those that go there regularly would know about it."

"You mean people like Tony and Anna," Wes responded.

"Yeah, I know that you said that you got a sense that they weren't our killers, but on this one, I think your spidey senses are a bit off," Travis answered. "I could be wrong about them killing Ryan and Jacqueline, but they were lying to us about something and dollars to doughnuts, it was about the drugs or whatever it is that made Ryan go crazy. The question is, why haven't we heard about any more incidents of the students and other people that go to that club becoming violent too?"

Wes replied, "Because someone's covering it up. I don't know about the other patrons, but I'm guessing if there are more students, then the dean of the school and his henchmen are the ones keeping it quiet. They would certainly have that kind of power."

Mike spoke up again saying, "Maybe you should go and have another chat with them. Do what you have to do to see if there are other students on this stuff. Then, by the time you're done, it will be about time to finally go to this club. I know that you both are just itching to go."

"I know Wes isn't too thrilled, but I for one can't wait to see what this place looks like," Travis responded as Wes rolled his eyes and groaned as their captain suggested that they go there.

"Your mind is just as twisted as the people's, who go to that place," Wes retorted as he finally made it back to his desk and took a seat.

Then Sutton said, "On second thought, Travis, you should take either Amy or Kate with you, seeing as Wes here isn't in any condition for a chase that the two of you always seem to get yourselves into. Maybe a woman's touch is exactly what you need for this."

Wes looked up at their captain and answered, "No way, Captain. I left the hospital so that I can continue on with this case."

"You can still continue working on this case, but instead, you'll do it from here," Mike replied.

"I have to do this, Sir," Wes pleaded. "I promise you, I'll be all right. If a chase happens…"

Travis quickly defended his partner as he interrupted, "If a chase happens, I can handle it. Besides, I'm sure he'll be just fine in no time as long as he uses the crutches like a good little boy."

Wes responded, "The pain isn't so bad."

"Do what you want, but if you get yourself killed, don't ask me to be the one to call up Alex," Mike answered.

"Don't worry, Cap," Travis replied. "Wes will be right as rain in no time. We'll catch these scumbags."

Wes turned away and began to stare as Nora and Brady walked by and then spoke up again saying, "I think I might have an idea on how to find out if Brady's the leak again."

Travis looked down at his partner as he responded, "Is your idea to pretend that you were wrong about Jeremy being innocent by admitting it in public?"

"How did you... never mind," Wes answered. "However, instead of me admitting it out loud, you're going to be the one to tell them. You can tell them I'm too proud to admit it myself and that I'm off griping because of it. They'd never believe it coming from me. If my plan works and we're right about either of them being the leak, one of them will run off to make a call to whoever their source in the media is."

"Your plan?" Travis quickly retorted. "It wasn't your plan. It was mine."

Wes replied in frustration, "No, it was my plan. I came up with it before you did."

Travis responded, "Maybe, but I said it out loud before you did, so technically, it was my plan."

"I don't care which one of you two came up with the plan first," Mike cut them both off angrily. "Just do it and then get out of here."

"Yes, Cap," Travis quickly answered. "Nice going, there, Ace."

Wes glared at his partner as he said, "Let's just get this over with so we can finally end this case once and for all. I'm sore, I'm tired, and I just want to give myself and Jeremy's family some peace."

Travis agreed as he spoke up saying, "Let's do this then."


	14. Chapter 14

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Fourteen

Brady stepped out of the main squad room in order to quickly make a phone call after the news he had just heard being spread around the number of detectives in the building. Once he hung up, he was about to walk back in to rejoin his partner, but he was suddenly stopped by both Wes and Travis as they stood in his path. Both of them had the look of betrayal and disappointment on their faces.

Travis was the first to speak up as he said angrily, "I have to say this wasn't much of a surprise, but it still really hurts. What do you think, Wes?"

While he stood in front of Brady using only one of his crutches to keep himself up right, Wes nodded as he answered, "I agree. I know that the three of us, or the four of us if you include Nora, don't get along at all, but it's bad for your career to allow a rival to make you work to ruin another detective's reputation."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brady responded.

"Yeah, actually I think that you do," Travis replied. "You've been leaking bad information to the reporters again, haven't you, Brady?"

Brady answered in frustration, "You're wrong. I don't know why you…"

Travis interrupted, "You don't know why we would suspect you, you mean? Let me think. Maybe it's because you did it once before and you were suspended because of it. But, it wasn't just that. You and Nora were angry with us for stealing yet another case from the two of you, you threatened to make us pay for it, and oh yeah, besides me, Wes, and the captain, you and your partner are the only others that know some of the detail of this case."

"It was Nora that threatened you the other day," Brady responded. "Not me. I was angry at you for taking the case away and I was angry that you threatened us yourself when you pointed your gun on us, but I wouldn't do this."

"Then, you won't mind handing us your phone and allowing us to take a look at the number you just dialed," Wes replied. "Or, if you prefer, we can have your phone records pulled and do it ourselves, but I think it might go better for you if you cooperate."

Brady answered, "You don't have the right."

Wes smiled and then said, "On the contrary. Captain Sutton's already cleared it. We have every right to check the last number on your cell phone."

"Fine, you're right," Brady responded angrily as he pulled up the last number and handed the phone to Travis, who quickly dialed the number, but then hung up as soon as the well known reporter picked up on the other end. "I just wanted to get a little recognition for once for doing my job and I wanted you to pay for humiliating me, time and time again."

"It wasn't me that you hurt," Travis replied. "It was Wes. You told your reporter friend that he was to blame for Jeremy Walker's death because he was incompetent and unsympathetic to his cause for being on that roof at the time. You were up there long enough to know that that wasn't true at all."

Wes continued, "On top of all that, you told the press lies about Jeremy being the killer of our victims, when we know now that he was innocent, just I said that he was all along."

Brady looked over at Wes with confusion on his face as he asked, "But I thought that you finally admitted that you were wrong about Jeremy. Nora said that she overheard Travis telling Kate and Amy that you were kicking yourself for spending so much time feeling guilty over a kid, who deceived you after all of that."

"It was all a deception to trick you into giving yourself away, which you did," Travis answered. "We didn't have the proof and so we lied in order to get it. It was a brilliant plan."

"And because you did all of this, you can go and clean off your desk, leave your badge and gun on top, then clear out of here as soon as you can," Mike said as he walked over and joined in on the conversation. "I won't have a weasel like you working for me and you certainly do not deserve to be a cop either. If someone hires you, that'll be their problem. But first, I want to know this; was your partner involved in this too?"

Brady shook his head and responded before walking away to do as the captain ordered, "No, she had no idea that I spoke to the reporter this time."

Mike nodded and then replied, "Good, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to transfer her out of robbery/ homicide. She doesn't fit in here. She should have realized it was you talking to the press and if she did, then she didn't come forward, which is wrong."

"I'm sorry, Cap," Wes spoke up again.

"What are you sorry for?" Captain Sutton asked. "It's not like you've done anything wrong and you haven't fought nearly as much since all of this happened. I'm grateful for that."

Wes answered, "I'm just sorry that you lost two of your detectives."

Mike nodded and then responded, "Thanks, but at least this way, I can finally hire some new blood around here. Good work on the acting there, Boys. Now, get out there and talk to the dean of that school, then head to that club. I want this case solved yesterday."

"You and me both," Wes mumbled to no one in particular.

"What'd you say?" Travis asked as he and Wes headed toward the elevator.

Wes replied, "Nothing. We've got a job to do."

Travis nodded and answered, "All right, but let's get dinner first, I'm starv… I'm hungry."

About an hour later, Wes and Travis were once again standing in the dean's office at UCLA, with the same two security officers standing beside them. The man wasn't happy to see them again and definitely not thrilled that he had to talk to them again, but he didn't refuse, as he knew they'd assume he was hiding something and make matters worse for him than they all ready were.

"Detectives, I thought we finished our conversation yesterday," the dean said with frustration in his voice.

"And I told you we'd be back if we had any more questions for you, which we do," Wes responded. "For example, do you know of any other students that have shown the same type of irritable manners and behaviors as both Ryan and Jeremy?"

Dean Wilkins glared up at Wes as he replied, "I believe I already told you that I had no idea if Ryan's recent behavior was because of drugs. We don't know what caused it, but I assure you, there is no one else around here showing anything like his or Jeremy's behaviors."

Wes spoke up again saying, "My instinct is telling me that you wouldn't tell me if you did know and it's usually right. I think you're lying. Despite what you may believe, Jeremy Walker wasn't guilty of killing his roommate. Someone else is. We don't think it was another one of your students, but we do have a feeling that more of your students go to the same club as Jeremy and Ryan, which means that most likely, whatever was causing their behaviors, it's happening to others too."

"Have you had to suspend or expel anyone else recently?" Travis quickly asked.

"Yes, he's had to suspend at least three other students that I know of for a few different reasons," one of the security guards answered when Dean Wilkins refused to answer himself. "Something bad is happening to these kids, but I didn't come forward before because I was asked to remain quiet to protect our prosperity. I'm sorry."

The dean was about to tell the man to shut up until Travis cut him off as he said, "I suggest that you be the one to remain silent like you've been toward us all along.

Wes spoke up again as he turned to the guard and asked, "Do you have any speculation of what's happening to these students?"

"I went to this club that Connie had mentioned when she confronted Dean Wilkins before in order to try to find out, but I didn't see anything suspicious," the guard responded. "I didn't stay long."

"Well, we're heading there now," Travis replied. "We'll let you know what we can when this case is over. Thank you for your help and Mr. Wilkins, I suggest you prepare to find a new job because I doubt the parents of these students and the board members will appreciate your work here when they discover that you've been keeping all this a secret, just to protect your own image."

Wilkins answered, "They won't fire me. I've done too much for them."

Wes headed toward the door and then turned back as he responded, "I think that they're bright enough to realize that your contributions mean nothing compared to the safety and the education of these kids."

"Did that make you feel better?" Travis asked his partner after they left the office.

"It did a little," Wes replied. "I just hope I was right about the right people being smart enough to do what needs to be done."

Travis said, "I'm sure they will. Oh, it looks like that guard just sent me the names, addresses, and pictures of the students, who were suspended. If we can't learn anything at the club tonight, we should go and have a chat with them. Maybe they can tell us what they're on."

Wes asked, "If you thought we wouldn't learn anything from Tony and Anna because of the place where they lived, do you honestly think we'll learn something from a group of drug junkies?"

"That's a good point," Travis answered. "You're probably right, but we may get lucky."

"You're right," Wes responded. "Now, we can stop for dinner."


	15. Chapter 15

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Fifteen

By the time they finished eating and arrived at the club they had heard so much about, it was just after the club opened and surprising, at least to Wes, there was a line of adults, as well as a few of the college students, waiting outside the door to get in, which wrapped around the building. Wes and Travis walked up to the bouncers that stood at the doors and Wes tried to talk his way in as he showed them his badge, but it eventually took Travis giving one of them a one hundred dollar bill before they agreed to finally let them inside.

As they slowly walked in and took a look around, Wes quickly glared at Travis as he shouted in order to speak above the music, "I can't believe you wasted your money like that. They would have let us in."

Travis shouted back, "Maybe eventually, but I got us in much faster. Besides, it wasn't my money I just wasted. It was yours. I borrowed it from your wallet when you were being checked out by the doctor this morning."

"You mean you stole it," Wes responded. "Damn it, Travis!"

"What?" he asked in a mocking tone. "I expected I was going to be coming here on my own seeing as I had no idea you were going to be getting out a couple of hours after you were admitted. I certainly couldn't have afforded to do that, but you could."

Wes shouted again as he looked up toward the office above that overlooked the main room, "Just stay out of my wallet from now on. It looks like the guy, I'm assuming is the owner of this place, is having a pretty heated argument with someone, wouldn't you say?"

Travis looked up and saw that Wes was right as they could see that the owner was arguing with another man, who suddenly raised his hands in defeat, then stormed out of the office and walked over to sit at a table with a group of what appeared to be students, followed by the owner. Wes looked over at Travis, who nodded, then together they walked up the stairs that led to the upper level of the place and began to approach the table in order to talk to the men and hopefully the students as well.

As they walked up, Travis noticed that Wes was pretty disturbed by the behavior of the men and woman that both worked at this place and the ones that came to the club to be entertained by the people that worked here, so when they finally arrived at the table, he spoke up first saying, "You'll have to excuse our interruption tonight, gentlemen and ladies, but I'm afraid we need to talk to whichever one of you is Todd Reynard. I'm detective Marks with the LAPD and this here is my partner, Detective Mitchell. Would you mind if we talked in your office?"

"You can call me Jafar and this is my palace," Todd answered. "Welcome to…"

"Cute," Wes cut him off before he could finish his greeting as he showed them his badge. "You stole your name from a Disney movie. Does this mean you're our villain?"

Todd only smiled and chuckled at Wes' comment, then looked over at Travis and asked, "Is your partner always like this?"

Travis replied, "Unfortunately, yes, but sometimes he has a good reason to be. Please, can we go and speak in your office, so that we can talk in private and without having to shout?"

"Very well," Todd responded as he bent down and kissed the young woman he was sitting next to on the top of her head, then led the detectives to his office, where he had been arguing with the other adult there at that table moments ago. "That young woman is my daughter and a few of her friends. What can I do for you, Gentlemen? Is there anything wrong?"

"We're investigating a couple of deaths, whom we believe were friends with your daughter out there," Wes answered solemnly. "Or least we're assuming she was friends with one of them, as Jacqueline Levitt did work here."

Todd poured himself a drink from his own mini bar in the office as he replied, "I can't believe that poor girl is dead. When she didn't show up for work yesterday, I just assumed she had gotten herself a little too drunk after going home with one of our regular patrons. It has happened from time to time. Who is the other person who died?"

As Wes shifted uncomfortably from one leg to another, as he had refused to bring his crutches in with him, Travis responded, "A Ryan Conway. He was a student at UCLA and we believe that he had had a fling with Jacqueline until she dumped him to be with other men."

"Please, forgive my manners," the owner said to Wes as he noticed that he appeared to be in some kind of pain. "Please feel free to take a seat, Detective. Are you all right?"

"My partner's just a little sore as he had a little run in with a suspect earlier," Travis quickly answered for Wes to help out a little. "He'll be fine, thank you."

Wes nodded and then replied, "Yes, I'm fine, but I'd prefer to stand. Did you know Ryan?"

Todd responded, "I'm afraid not. I don't know all of my patrons that come here. As you can see, we're pretty popular."

"Yes, we can see that," Wes answered with disgust evident in his voice. "I'm not really a fan of this kind of atmosphere."

"I can tell," Todd replied. "And that's okay. Not everyone is, but there are plenty of people that are, which is great for me. I am sorry that I cannot be of more help to you, Gentlemen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my daughter and guests. Did you have any more questions for me?"

Travis was about to turn to go until he stopped when Wes quickly asked the man, "Do you know of anyone around here that have been distributing drugs to any of your patrons, including the college students that come here?"

Todd's attitude darkened as he responded, "I understand, Detective Mitchell, that you do not like my establishment and that is fine, but it does not give you the right to assume that I allow anything illegal into my club. It is well respected night club, which I am very proud of and I would never allow anything such as drugs to ruin it for me. Now, if you will kindly leave right now, or I will call for my security to help you out."

Wes and Travis left the office and then out of the club, but not before they noticed Tony an Anna walk up to the balcony and sit down beside Todd's daughter, followed soon by Todd, who only glared down at the detectives until they finally left. As they both made it outside, Wes turned and noticed that his partner was glaring at him as well.

"What?" Wes asked as if he had no idea why Travis was upset.

"Are you crazy?" Travis asked angrily. "Why would you just come right out and bluntly ask him if he was distributing drugs in there? Why didn't you just go ahead and ask him outright if he murdered Ryan and Jacqueline, then set up Jeremy to take the fall?"

Wes answered, "I was curious to know how he would react to the accusation. If he was innocent, he would have answered my question calmly and show a bit more surprise. Instead, he blew up and kicked us out. He wasn't surprised in the least that we suspected him of giving out drugs. Now we know for sure that he's hiding something big. He's involved in this somehow. We just need to find out what that is and then prove it."

Travis smiled as he replied, "I've got to hand it to you, Wes. You're not dumb, at least not always. Why aren't you using your crutches? You're clearly in pain."

"The crutches are only making the pain worse and I need to build the strength back up in my legs," Wes responded as he got back into the passenger's side of his own car.

"You're more afraid to show that you're not up to one hundred percent capacity in front of our suspects," Travis retorted as he sat down beside him in the driver's seat. "I know you."

Wes nodded and then answered, "Maybe. I know I said I'd take it easy, but it's my job to make sure you don't get yourself killed. Also, I can't afford to let the bad guys think they can get away by extorting my weakness."

Travis understood how Wes felt and then replied, "That's not going to happen. You're tougher than they are. Besides, you've got me to look after you too."


	16. Chapter 16

Tabula Rasa

Chapter Sixteen

Three days passed by and so far, Wes and Travis had come up with nothing on Todd Reynard, even after trying to talk to the students, who were suspended from the college, except that Reynard was only co-owner of the club and running it until his partner, who was arrested on an assault charge, got out of prison in two years.

Most of Wes' strength had finally come back, but his patience and hope for solving this case had dwindled drastically, the longer this case remained opened. Travis was worried about him, as Wes was no longer arguing with him at all. In fact, he was once again hardly speaking, hardly eating, and Travis and Mike knew that he wasn't getting much sleep either. Both of them were supposed to have another therapy session, but Wes refused to go and for once, Mike didn't force him to go.

Later in the day, as Wes was sitting at his desk scanning his computer for information about both owners of the club, Travis came over, took a seat at his own desk after having a talk with Kendall, who was also worried about him, and then placed a sandwich down on his partner's desk in front of him. Wes didn't seem to notice as he kept staring at the computer screen.

"You know, you're not going to find something that isn't there," Travis said as he saw that Wes was looking over owners' rap sheets, as they both had minor records. "I bought you your favorite sandwich from the café down the street. Are you listening to me?"

"I hear you," Wes answered sullenly. "Thanks, but I'm not really hungry."

Travis scoffed and then responded, "Please, you couldn't even last three days on that disgusting cleanse you went on once, so I know that you're just fooling yourself. Look, I get it. I know that you're upset that we've hit a dead end, but you have got to snap out of this funk you're in."

Kendall suddenly charged in with a file in her hand as she replied, "Maybe this will help!"

"This is the guy that Reynard was arguing with at the club," Travis said as he and Wes looked over the first photo Kendall handed them inside the file. "He's on his phone while he's standing outside the station as he's watching Wes. What is this?"

"I've been working on trying to get a clean shot of the scumbag that hit Wes with his car and unfortunately, I wasn't able to, as he or she was wearing a baseball cap, but thanks to the surveillance cameras all around here, I caught a shot of this guy, as you just said, watching Wes just before the accident," Kendall answered. "I didn't really think anything of it until I moved in on another camera and caught this same guy, a few minutes later, walking over and leaning in to talk to whoever it was inside the car that hit Wes. I ran him through the databank and nothing came up, but I ran him through a few other systems and it turns out, this guy's a lawyer named Jim Richards, who has one son, Tony Richards."

Wes stood up as he turned to her and quickly asked, "Do you think you could find out, who he made the call to just before the accident by getting a copy of his records?"

Kendall smiled as she responded, "Did you honestly think I would leave you hanging, Boys? I've got it right here. The number belongs to a Todd Reynard; the very guy you've been wanting to nail since you met him the other night at that freaky club."

"Kendall, you are a genius!" Wes said eagerly just before he suddenly kissed her on her cheek and then ran toward the exit. "Thank you!"

"Hey, wait for me!" Travis shouted out at his partner while he quickly grabbed his and Wes' coats as he winked at the photo technician and then took off.

As soon as Travis got back into the passenger's seat of Wes' car, Wes began to drive off in a rush toward Tony's and Ana's apartment while Travis spoke up saying, "It's good to see that you're kind of back to your old self all of a sudden, but let's not get ourselves killed on our way to go bring the bastards down all right? Why are we heading to Tony's apartment first? Shouldn't we be going to the club?"

Wes angrily replied, "It's early in the morning. Most likely, Tony will be at his apartment right now and we don't even know if anyone's at the club. We don't have enough to arrest Reynard on, but I have a feeling that Tony was the one driving the car that hit me and if we can get him to talk by making a deal with him, then we can get what we need. This might be why Reynard and his lawyer were arguing that night at the club."

"Good thinking," Travis answered. "It's about time we end this case. Any longer and you would have wasted away to nothing and I would have ended up without a partner."

Wes ignored him as he continued to stare ahead as he drove. When they finally arrived at Tony and Ana's apartment complex, they saw Tony's father leave the building and head toward his car. Wes and Travis quickly got out and ran toward the lawyer, but he didn't try to run away as they expected him to, nor did he try to attack them as they approached.

"He isn't here," Jim said sadly. "I think my son is with Todd at the club discussing another plan to kill both of you. He was the one in the car. I never wanted this; not for me or for my son. I'm so sorry, Detectives."

"You were outside the station that morning when I came out," Wes responded as Travis turned him around, cuffed his hands behind his back, and then shoved him into the back of Wes' car, as he took a seat beside him. "You've been following me around, haven't you?"

As Wes began to drive toward the club, Jim replied, "Yes, I've been following you around for awhile. I was watching you inside your hotel the night Jeremy Walker died and I heard you tell your partner and your lady friend that you were going to find the men that were responsible for Jeremy's death. I knew you'd be hell bent on bringing us all in, so when I told Todd, he sent my son to kill you so you couldn't. I tried to stop him, but my son idolizes Todd and his brother, who is in prison."

Travis spoke up again saying, "Tell us about why he had both Ryan and Jacqueline killed and then why he set up Jeremy Walker."

"Both Todd and his brother, before he was arrested, were hooking men and women up for a lot of money," Jim continued. "The Harem is kind of like a dominatrix type sex club. However, business was dwindling and so they started distributing drugs to help draw people in, addicting drugs, just as you suspected. Eventually, word got out to a group of students from the college, including Jeremy, who soon ended up dragging Ryan with him. Jeremy was all right with taking the drugs right away, but Ryan was more afraid, until Tony and Ana brought Jacqueline over to convince him the drugs were only to help loosen him up and that they were harmless. He tried it and got addicted, like many others, but then Jacqueline no longer wanted to be with Ryan and they got into a fight. Ryan then fought with my son, as he told Tony that he was going to tell the police about what was going on in the club. Todd had my son kill Ryan and then kill Jacqueline, who was also threatening to go to the police when she overheard them make the plans for the hit on Ryan. Finally, we set up Ryan's roommate because he was the one responsible for bringing Ryan in the first place. We thought you would think that there was some kind of love triangle going on between the three of them, so Tony planted Jeremy's things at the crime scenes and was very careful with not leaving evidence behind, unless it pointed to Jeremy. Ana slipped Jeremy a drug to knock him out for the night. I was only trying to protect my son. I never wanted to be involved."

"Then, why didn't you go to the police yourself?" Travis asked.

Wes answered for him angrily, "Lawyer, client privilege. You were more afraid then to lose your license than you were of helping your son and clients commit these horrendous crimes. The question is, why now? Why are you so willing to give it all up now?"

Jim responded, "I want to save my son and I realize now that talking to you is the only way."

"I doubt we'll be able to do anything for him," Travis replied. "He's murdered two people, helped to frame another for those crimes, and then tried to kill my partner as well. There's not much that can be done for a monster like that."

"We're here," Wes said as they pulled up in front of the nightclub, then got out and headed to the trunk, where he had stored two bullet proof vests in for him and Travis, while Travis quickly cuffed their detainee to handle above him so that he wouldn't try to escape, then went around to the back of the car to join in putting on his vest like his partner did. "Amy and Kate are on their way to help us out if we need it, but we can't wait. We may not get another shot at this. You ready?"

Travis nodded and answered, "Yeah, I'm ready."

Wes and Travis slowly approached the club's entrance with their hands over their guns to be prepared for a fight should one arise and quietly entered through the side door, rather than through the front in hope of avoiding being seen right away. At first, their plan worked, but after a few minutes, one of the bouncers caught sight of the two detectives and suddenly shouted out to Reynard, who was speaking with Tony up at the same table where they were all talking a few nights ago, telling him to run, as the man quickly pulled out his gun and attempted to shoot Wes and Travis, until they took him down first, followed by a few others, who tried to kill them as well.

While Wes and Travis were distracted with dealing with his thugs, both Reynard and Tony Richards ran from the club out the back door and down the fire escape, as they were up on the second level of the building. It didn't take long for the rest of the detectives in the LAPD and the cops to arrive on the scene, including Kate and Amy, who took over for Wes and Travis, while they went after their main targets.

Reynard and Tony had a good head start, but Wes and Travis chased after them as fast as they could, finally ending up in an old, abandoned building several blocks down the street from the night club, filled with packing crates, drums filled with some kind of liquid, stripped down bodies of cars, as well as old car parts.

As Travis and Wes entered the same way they figured their killers had entered, the large room was quiet and it made them feel unsettled, even while they held up their guns, and as they expected, as soon as they stepped out into the opening, several shots were fired at them from a balcony above them, as Wes very quickly shoved Travis down behind a large stack of the containers to take cover. Luckily for Travis, Wes had caught sight of their attackers just before they took the first shots.

Unfortunately, Reynard and Tony had the high ground, but they each only had one single handgun, just as Travis and Wes had, so shots were being fired back and forth on both sides, each side hoping the other would run out of bullets first. Wes and Travis took turns firing, while the other one stopped to reload their gun.

It was when he noticed that they were almost out that Wes suddenly spoke up loudly in order to be heard over the firing, saying, "We've got to do something fast or we're both going to end up dead!"

Travis quickly shouted back, "I open to any ideas!"

"There's a door to your left," Wes answered as he knelt low to the ground while he loaded his last clip into his gun. "It looks like there's also a door behind them. Go out and sneak up behind them. I'll cover you."

"That's crazy!" Travis responded in frustration. "I can't leave you alone in here!"

Travis suddenly took cover as well, as the clip he was on just emptied, then they both looked at each other when Wes replied, "We don't have a choice. They've got the advantage over us and it doesn't appear that they're running out of bullets like we are. It's now, or never."

Travis nodded as he said fearfully, "Fine, but don't you dare get yourself killed. Be careful!"

"I will, now go!" Wes answered and as soon as their killers paused to reload, Wes suddenly began to fire several rounds toward them in distraction, while Travis bolted out the door and ran as fast as he could to follow through with the rest of their plan.

When he reached the door after reloading his final clip and quietly slipped back into the building up behind Reynard and Tony, who were both still distracted as they were firing upon his partner, Travis snuck up and roughly placed the barrel of his gun against the back of Reynard's head to get him to stop shooting. Tony was shocked to see that he and his idol were about to be beaten, but he quickly turned his gun around on Travis, who was too focused on Reynard to notice, and was about to shoot until the kid suddenly collapsed to the ground and cried out in pain, as a bullet suddenly entered his shoulder. Travis looked down to see his partner standing out in the opening and realized he had made that shot, which saved his life.

"Last bullet," Wes called up to Travis and then smiled, just as Amy, Kate, and a few cops came charging into the room, ready for the take down.

After a few more cops entered the door where Travis entered moments ago, Travis allowed them to arrest both Todd Reynard and Tony Richards and take them into custody, as he reached out over the balcony to grab a hold of a rope that hung from the ceiling and then swung back down a few feet away from Wes.

Amy shook her head and smirked as she smugly said, "Show off."

Travis was about to say something in reply until he looked over at Wes, who looked down at his hand that he was holding over his stomach, then slowly moved it away to reveal that it was covered in blood. Wes then looked back up directly at Travis in shock as he suddenly stumbled forward and collapsed until Travis rushed over and caught him before he could hit the floor. Fear came across Travis' face as he held onto his partner and tried to take a closer look at the wound that he couldn't see, as the bullet had entered straight through his vest, then placed his free hand over the hand Wes was using to place pressure on his wound himself.

As soon as she and her partner saw Wes collapse, Amy quickly made the call for an ambulance, while Kate rushed over and knelt down to help her colleagues. From above them, as Travis heard a chuckle coming from Jafar and the kid, he quickly shouted out to the cops to get the monsters out of the building. Then, Travis turned his attention back on Wes and saw that his eyes were closed tightly in pain.

While Kate began to take a look at the entrance wound herself as she gently moved the hands covering it away, Wes sluggishly reopened his eyes to look up at Travis and then struggled to say, "We didn't ha… have a choice. I was hit… hit when we first walked… into the building. I would not have been able to do… what you did."

"You son of a bitch," Travis responded angrily. "I won't allow you to die because you saved my life. You're going to be all right. Do you hear me? Just stay with me."

"I can't see the wound because of his vest, but it's helping to keep pressure on it so that his blood doesn't flow out as fast as it would without the vest," Kate whispered. "The only way a bullet could go through the vest is if…"

Wes replied, "Armor piercing… rounds."

Travis nodded as he said, "They were using 'cop killers.' They figured we would come for them eventually, so they prepared."

"The ambulance is here," Amy quickly cried out as she rushed back inside the building after leaving to go wait for the paramedics to arrive in order to flag them down and lead them inside. "They're coming. How is he doing?"

"He's going to be fine," Travis answered optimistically for his partner's benefit, even though deep down he didn't feel so sure. "You're going to be just fine, Wes. We may fight like we're children, but I don't want another partner. Don't you dare give up!"

Wes had fallen into coma after he had died on the operating table and had to be resuscitated twice. The only thing that was keeping him alive was life support and Travis had fallen into the same slump that Wes had fallen into back when he was blaming himself for Jeremy's death. After three weeks, Wes still had yet to come out of it, so Captain Sutton had tried to assign Travis a new partner temporarily, but it only ticked him off and he told Mike that he was taking some time off to think things through.

Travis didn't want to quit, just because there was a chance he could lose his partner for good, but at the same time, he had meant what he said when he told Wes that he didn't want to have to train another partner in his place. Wes was the only person, who understood him and what about what the captain and Dr. Ryan kept telling him and Wes? The two of them needed each other. Wes was the only person standing between his reckless actions and death. How could he train someone else to be that for him?

Five weeks passed by and Alex had yet to visit the hospital and by that point, Travis knew that she wasn't coming this time. He knew that she wanted to, but at the same time, he also knew why she couldn't. She was afraid to watch a man, whom she still loved, slip away. Travis didn't blame her and neither did anyone else.

Within that time, Dr. Ryan, Mr. and Mrs. Dumont, Peter, Dakota, Clyde, and Rozelle all stopped by several times to visit, in order to show their support for their friends. Even Kate, Amy, and Jonelle came to visit a few times. Mike stopped by every night after work on his way home, as did Kendall and every night they found Travis keeping vigil over a man he considered a brother, no matter how many foster siblings he already had.

It was into the sixth week when Wes finally awoke from the coma. The doctors were surprised as they didn't expect him to recover at all, but Travis just let out a sigh of relief as he waited for his partner to acknowledge he was there. After a few minutes, Wes finally looked over at him and smiled.

Travis spoke up saying, "You gave us all quite a scare. I thought I told you not to do anything stupid?"

Wes groggily answered, "I didn't plan… to get myself… shot, but I wasn't going to let you die."

"So it's all right that you take the risks then?" Travis responded. "That isn't exactly fair now, is it?"

"It was a risk I was willing to make," Wes replied quietly. "You would have done the same for me."

Travis smiled as he nodded and then answered, "Yeah, I would have, but don't ever tell anyone I admitted that or people might start to get the impression that I like you."

Wes smiled too as he responded, "The same goes for me. I don't suppose this means we can be done with therapy now, does it?"

"I wish," Travis replied. "We still have plenty of issues to work through, especially after all this. For example, how do you feel about everything that happened with Jeremy? Are you still blaming yourself?"

"I think a part of me always will, but I know now that there was nothing more I could do," Wes answered. "We got the scum that were responsible for it all. You helped me to keep my promise, so thank you, Travis."

Travis only nodded and then responded, "You know, Kendall's been here every night to watch over you so that I could go home and get some sleep. She's got a major crush on you, Man."

Wes replied, "When I finally decide to retire, if she still has a crush on me then, then I'll go out with her. But until then…"

"Man, you are hopeless," Travis said half jokingly. "Who knows, maybe she'll find another job and then the two of you can date."

"Is she looking for another job?" Wes asked as Travis just smirked at him and then turned and walked out of the room. "Travis? Travis!"

The End


End file.
